Crunch hits bus and rail giants.TRANSPORT giants FirstGroup said the recession was still hitting the growth of their bus and rail revenues. The Aberdeen-based company - whose franchises include First ScotRail This article is about the Scottish rail network operated until 2004. For the present-day rail franchise in Scotland, see First ScotRail. ScotRail was the brand name under which British Rail and following privatisation, National Express operated passenger - said like-for-like rail revenues slowed to 1.7 per cent in the six months to September September: see month. 30. The firm, who reported much higher demand for cheaper advance and discount tickets, also have two London commuter deals receiving the maximum revenue support from the Government. Growth slowed to 2.3 per cent in FirstGroup's UK bus division, where they have higher fuels bills this year. The slowing revenues have prompted a "relentless focus on budgetary control" and major cost-cutting. First have shed more than 4000 jobs - mainly in North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. - in a bid to save pounds 200million a year. The company, whose buses carry some three million passengers a day in the UK, had an all-share merger approach to rivals National Express rejected earlier this year. |
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