I can give a response to a couple of these.
Beginning with Ipswich, they have a (mostly) modern fleet and manage their own bus station, Tower Ramparts, which although sometimes subject to congestion is a far more passenger-friendly and modern facility than the other bus station at the Old Cattle Market (one of the worst I have ever used). They do not however have sole access to the local market, although First services (the former Eastern Counties operation) are concentreated on areas of Ipswich to the east, especially those beyond the council boundary which invariably goes some distance explaining that; having said that though, they do run a multitude of routes at least thrice an hour and have a good supply of low-floor double deck vehicles. (If only the same could be said of route 2, which serves the Transport Museum...)
The other obvious one I can answer to would be Thamesdown, although I have to confess that, for all the times I have travelled through and into Swindon, I have never actually used any service they operate. Given that they have quite a substantial level of competition from Stagecoach, they seem to be coping quite well. It is probably true that the primary local route in the town is the 7, which is operated by the "outsiders", but the network is very well integrated. I have to say that I would not suggest that Thamesdown could be considered a success story in the same way as those listed (I would probably suggest Ipswich are fifth), not least because of the competitive nature of the operation, but they are running without any particular issues.
One thing that does get me with some council operations is the insistence on
exact fares. Although not an issue for me personally by the time I got round to travelling with Ipswich (I had had my pass for literally four weeks at that point), it has caused me some issues in Cardiff and as a result I always go by PlusBus as a precaution, thereby making the Welsh capital the only place I have ever used such a ticket.
Unfortunately however, I have to agree with the critisicm of Blackpool. Once again on this forum (it is becoming quite a common taking point!) we are looking at Blackpool in consideration to other operations and destinations and once again they come off badly. I am not going to give another lecture on the economy of the town (
here), but they do need to - if you will forgive the slang terminology - buck their ideas up. The network is confusing, run with many ageing vehicles [sounds like another resort I know
] and often subjected to inappropriate routes and early finishes. The council and company need to accept that the way forward in Blackpool is not by sticking 16 new Flexity Swifts on the seafront, but by investing in their road transport division. And until that happens, Blackpool will always be an example of a municipal company that does not look like such a good prospect in the medium to long term.