Plymouth Citybus is a flagship part of Plymouth City Council that punches above its weight and is held in high esteem by the people of Plymouth. It pays a percentage of its profits annually as a dividend to Plymouth City Council from the profit it makes and it does make a profit. When a local bus company is taken over by a national company, the subsidies that the council pays to that company increase.
Plymouth Citybus is community oriented and will run buses on routes that have a small profit margin, where a national company would not. To continue running these community services after the sale of Plymouth Citybus the council would need to subsidise the routes. This negates the purpose of the sale of Plymouth Citybus.
Currently Plymouth Citybus runs well-organised school bus routes. Because of the low profitability of these routes, Plymouth Citybus school buses would be curtailed, stopped or would need to be heavily subsidised by the Plymouth City Council – i.e. you and me. Many other facets of Plymouth Citybus service are unique to their philosophy of community orientation and would require considerable subsidies to replace commercially.
The sale of Plymouth Citybus and building projects on playing fields (CSSC) seem short-term measures brought about by the desire to raise money or fill quotas at all costs. If Plymouth Councillors dealing with the sale of Plymouth Citybus and CSSC were more transparent and measured in their projects then any proposed sale of Plymouth Citybus or similar might be better understood by citizens.
Perhaps they should take a long-term look at the way the City is being developed as a whole. There must be beauty in the buildings and neighbourhoods, green area retention and civic responsibility.
http://www.saveplymouthcitybus.co.uk/
Petition about saving the Civil Service Club Plymouth pitches and greens:
