Bus operators get £5.6m back (From The Oxford Times)

And?

You might like to know that I received £1,648.32 in child benefit last year.

this money is paid to support services which are needed but not commercially viable, such as many evening and Sunday services. without these payments, many people would be without any public transport except during the day

You're both wrong. BSOG and its predecessor FDR were put in place to reflect the overall benefit that bus services provide to the economy and society as a whole, in much the same way as 'red diesel' was put in place to help agriculture. They were NOT to specifically cover unprofitable journeys; provision was made for these to be tendered by local authorities as part of bus deregulation in the 80s.

McVey, night fares start at midnight not 10 pm, and profitable bus companies are a good thing. Without profits the owning groups would not keep our local companies supplied with new vehicles - we have some of the youngest fleets in the country - and keep innovative services like night buses and fast commuter services going. You could have a cheaper service but it would be rubbish like those in Luton, Leicester etc.

I'll let others whose families have been more affected by Pinochet, Hitler etc comment on your sense of perspective.

King Joke wrote:
You're both wrong. BSOG and its predecessor FDR were put in place to reflect the overall benefit that bus services provide to the economy and society as a whole, in much the same way as 'red diesel' was put in place to help agriculture. They were NOT to specifically cover unprofitable journeys; provision was made for these to be tendered by local authorities as part of bus deregulation in the 80s.

McVey, night fares start at midnight not 10 pm, and profitable bus companies are a good thing. Without profits the owning groups would not keep our local companies supplied with new vehicles - we have some of the youngest fleets in the country - and keep innovative services like night buses and fast commuter services going. You could have a cheaper service but it would be rubbish like those in Luton, Leicester etc.

I'll let others whose families have been more affected by Pinochet, Hitler etc comment on your sense of perspective.

Joke then why do I see Stage(ripoff)coach buses with N1 N2 etc (special fares apply) at 5 minutes past ten. You are the real king joke.

Check your watch mate, the first N1 leaves the city at 2355 and the Leys at 0018.

Are you still on Azores time?

This is a disingenuous article that makes selective use of the facts in order to mislead the gullible. And it gets one fact wrong: the name of the fuel duty rebate is "Bus Service Operators Grant", not "Bus Operators' Support Grant".
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The Fuel Duty Rebate for bus and coach fuel was 100% from 1965 until 1994, when John Major started whittling it down and thus undermining bus and coach services. By the early years of the Blair government FDR was only 67%.
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In 2002 Blair partially restored it to 81% but renamed it from FDR to BSOG. This re-cast the rebate as a grant, I suspect in order to mislead the gullible into seeing this tax allowance as a New Labour gift.
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If the Oxford Mail article were a piece of responsible journalism it would point out that on 1st April 2012 the Coalition slashed BSOG by 20%. Combined with this month's 3p increase in duty on diesel fuel, this has added £1.1 million a year to the cost of running buses in Oxfordshire. This is why Oxford Bus Co has just increased its fares for the first time in three years and Stagecoach is just about to do likewise.
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Last November the Coalition completely scrapped BSOG for coach services. Stagecoach could have taken that as a reason to increase fares on the Oxford Tube. But it did not; either then or in the current fares revision.
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Public transport should not pay duty on fuel. Fuel for civil aircraft is duty-free and fuel for trains is almost duty-free. Bus and coach fuel should go back to being duty-free as well.

Hugh Jaeger wrote:
This is a disingenuous article that makes selective use of the facts in order to mislead the gullible. And it gets one fact wrong: the name of the fuel duty rebate is "Bus Service Operators Grant", not "Bus Operators' Support Grant".
`
The Fuel Duty Rebate for bus and coach fuel was 100% from 1965 until 1994, when John Major started whittling it down and thus undermining bus and coach services. By the early years of the Blair government FDR was only 67%.
`
In 2002 Blair partially restored it to 81% but renamed it from FDR to BSOG. This re-cast the rebate as a grant, I suspect in order to mislead the gullible into seeing this tax allowance as a New Labour gift.
`
If the Oxford Mail article were a piece of responsible journalism it would point out that on 1st April 2012 the Coalition slashed BSOG by 20%. Combined with this month's 3p increase in duty on diesel fuel, this has added £1.1 million a year to the cost of running buses in Oxfordshire. This is why Oxford Bus Co has just increased its fares for the first time in three years and Stagecoach is just about to do likewise.
`
Last November the Coalition completely scrapped BSOG for coach services. Stagecoach could have taken that as a reason to increase fares on the Oxford Tube. But it did not; either then or in the current fares revision.
`
Public transport should not pay duty on fuel. Fuel for civil aircraft is duty-free and fuel for trains is almost duty-free. Bus and coach fuel should go back to being duty-free as well.

Hugh there is NO PUBLIC TRANSPORT anymore. Ask Souter and GO AHEAD, if they provide a public transport service, or make millions profit a year subsidised out of our taxes. Over a pound to go one stop down the road, that is not public transport, that is a rip off, but at least it is not approaching Boris in London with his £4 a trip. That is the tories for you.

Please present your preferred model for public transport ownership, governance and operation McVey. I'm all ears.

A return to the National Bus Company? A paternalistic local-authority-run service with routes decided by councillors? Tfl-style franchising? Owner-driver minibuses?

THere's a few starters for you, come on man, out with it!

A £1 fare on either Oxford Bus Co or Stagecoach can take far further than one stop. £1 takes me one mile from Cutteslowe to Summertown.
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If Oxford Bus Co and Stagecoach were not profitable they would not invest millions in new buses every year. Stagecoach has replaced 82% of its buses in Oxfordshire since 2008 and Oxford Bus Co has introduced dozens of new buses on the Brookes, Park & Ride and bus partnership routes.
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Bus deregulation in 1986 was a Thatcherite disgrace that caused chaos and in many places left bus services to collapse to a shadow of their former selves. In many places one or other of the five big bus companies now has almost a monopoly, which it exploits to the passengers' disadvantage and maintains by aggressively seeing off smaller competitors.
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However, in Oxford two large companies and a number of smaller companies provide good-quality services from which all of us benefit. Without them Oxford would be grid-locked with private cars.