TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
Where there are particular contract requirements, mainly London but you may have specific contract requirements, then they can price in that investment cost.Thank you for that genuinely interesting insight into the way the things go at arriva. I assume this differs in London where are there are some slightly more stringent requirements.
It's the majority of the provincial operations where there's a lack of investment for standard fleet replacement. More immediately, they can effect "fleet replacement" (i.e. wiping out the life expired fleet) via fleet reductions as services are pared back. If you have to replace c.7% of your fleet per annum, and you're cutting 5-10% off your PVR anyway, you're there.
The problem is that this is on top of poor levels of investment in the last five years - it is eerily reminiscent of the First fleet challenges a few years ago with an aging fleet profile and newish vehicles being shunted around to accommodate any specific requirements e.g. shifting e200mmc from Maidstone to Harlow (724 environmental requirements) or to Colchester (park and ride age requirement).