No because if they transfer to Hinckley, FSW won’t gain from the additional hire fees. FSW have transferred in temporary old stock to cover the MMCs whilst Hinckley require additional vehicles for social distancing. EDF (as the operator of Hinckley) pay for the hire of additional vehicles.
The vehicles are required in Cornwall hence the need to bring in temporary replacements. The hire fee is too lucrative to skip over for FSW!
Yes, I know. I'm talking about long term, which I think was also the original question that sparked this debate.
I think the question, which we obviously don't know the answer to yet, is whether the MMCs at SPS will be required back in Cornwall long term. With the economics of local bus services now in tatters one way of achieving economies would be to use fully depreciated vehicles.
Given that the current arrangement is so lucrative it can't be the best value for money long term for EDF, who will at some stage want to formalise more permanent arrangements. But then that probably can't be done until we know how long social distancing will last. It could be for ever of course!