First Cuts, Then First Increases Fares

It's been reported that First Leicester will increase bus fares from this weekend, citing 

"operational costs, including diesel, lighting and wages"

for the no doubt inevitable increase. Bus companies are very quick to use increasing diesel prices to put up their fares, but it's amazing how those fares never revert back to pre-increase prices when fuel prices eventually go down.

"Not in service" - about right

Worse still, this announcement comes just two weeks after it was announced that the public transport provider will be cutting some of its services. Those cuts were prompted by the cut in council subsidies.

First Leicester is part of the FirstGroup, that provides bus and rail travel around the country. With increasing fuel costs, insurance premiums at a high (Arriva's excuse), wages etc, on top of councils cutting their subsidies, it would be hard to imagine how companies like FirstGroup survive. It would be totally flabbergasting if an operating profit of £55.4m was reported, an increase of 9.1%. I mean, you wouldn't want to be increasing fares if that was the case, would you? It would be totally underhanded and short-sighted to make customers, who will probably struggling financially and dependant on buses, after all.....