I was just looking for the latest news on the bus strike on the PTE web site and I came across this information which I think has only just been issued in the last day or two. I think it is the first time this information has been put on the web for the public to view as in the pass you had to go to the public records office to find out details.

The following Sheffield Bus services will receive a subsidy for the period 27/07/04 to 27/01/07 (183 weeks).The tenders were put out under various options like 6 day or 7 day operation, high or low frequency and standard or high specification bus.Some of the tenders received 3 bidders however most only had one bidder
(First) and First also offered a combined bid (ie grouped several tenders together and offered a further discount.

The following is an edited version from the document....
Service 1 had 3 bidders lowest £23973 -- highest £174424
Service 29 had 3 bidders lowest £235887 ---highest £439000
Service 72A had 3 bidders lowest £118767 --- highest £515000
Service 265 had 2 bidders lowest 3247874 -- highest £281820
Service m17 had 3 bidders lowest £90182 -- highest £321360
Service m29 had 3 bidders lowest 320496 -- highest £192704
Service m49 had 3 bidders lowest £96624 -- highest £241520
Service M92 had 4 bidders lowest £138432 -- highest£207705
Service A1 had 4 bidders lowest £886706 -- highest £1815639

First offered a combined bid on the following services
1,2,3,6,7,13,32,33,43,45,50,57,63,82,723,m29
for a total minimum subsidy of £1164649 (= to £330938 PA)

following further negotiations with First the PTE agreed a lower bid on the following 4 services 17,29,38,m92 from a total of £823401 to £765416

First also offered to operate Low Floor buses on ALL CONTRACTED SUNDAY SERVICES (WHEREVER POSSIBLE)

From the above when we look at the new timetables we can see where First have linked up some loss making routes with its fully commercial network to fund the bids it made.

The PTE has to accept the lowest bidder under the rules of the Transport Act.
Hope you have found it of interest as this is where the PTE spends some of its portion of our Council Tax money.

Do the PTE get a refund of their subsidy when the bus doesn't run?

A good question as I was wondering the same. However as I interpret the contracts/tenders awarded to First from today are under a minimum subsidy requirement so any loss on that route greater than the one agreed is at First risk.

However if all the service is funded by the PTE like the A1 then all the takings are paid to the PTE as no bus company was prepared to take a commerical risk.

Tender information ha never, as far as I know, been a secret.

Since 1986 when the PTE came in to being I believe that it's always been possible to go to the PTE's offices on Exchange Street (not the Public Records Office, wherever that might be) and request the information.

As far as I'm aware, if a service doesn't run then the operator doesn't get their for that journey.

It's always been the case that some parts of commercial services are tendered in some circumstances - for example, Sunday Services may be fleshed out to provide a 'de minimis' service when the rest of the service is run on a commercial basis. The idea is that the PTE subsidises services such as Sundays, School Services, etc. to fill gaps in teh time table that would be present if the operators were left to their own devices and ran everything purely commercial.

It's inevitable that First will bid for a lot of tendered services because they are the biggest operator, I guess. Many of the smaller operators put good services together in the areas of tendered services that the largey operators won't touch.

Joe

By Public Records Office I was relating to where most papers/reports/documents published by local/central government/agencies etc. end up like the PTE head office,VOSA office at Leeds,Sheffield Central Library.In the past you only knew when it was available was the placement of a small advert in the Star.
As with most public services we complain about this and that and the other on this site without knowing what the true costs are in providing that service