THE BUS WAR in Aberdeen between Stagecoach and FlixBus is intensifying as the Scottish Government and the city council are being dragged into the battle.
Stagecoach continues to block access to FlixBus in Aberdeen Bus Station claiming health and safety issues. Flixbus passengers are having to embark and disembark in the street.
Subscribe to our daily newsletter
Why? Free to subscribe, no paywall, daily business news digest.
Andreas Schorling, Managing Director of FlixBus said: “Despite Stagecoach’s claims that we are ‘in discussion’, officials have made no effort to consult with us or find a resolution in the last two months and in fact refused a dispute resolution. Operations staff from our coach partner McGill’s offered a meeting, but Stagecoach declined without explanation.
“We have evidence that Aberdeen Bus Station’s utilisation is not maximised and in fact being used largely as a parking facility for buses and coaches rather than as a pickup point for passengers. We suspect this is a deliberate misuse of the space to keep out competitors.
“The Scottish Transport Minister Kevin Stewart has told us to liaise with Aberdeen City Council to minimise any adverse impact on passengers. We have requested an urgent meeting to seek the council’s support, to ensure residents are being offered a full and fair choice of services from their local Bus Station.”
FlixBus adviser Jack Irvine added: “Stagecoach’s pig-headedness is causing consternation for our passengers and the council cannot be happy that we are having to load luggage and passengers on the street which is clearly a safety issue.
“We keep hearing about Stagecoach having Health and Safety issues inside the bus station and that’s why they won’t give us slots. How about the Health and Safety issues of us being forced onto the street. Incidentally we have still to see the supposed Health and Safety concerns Stagecoach have about Flixbus being present in the bus station.
“This is the kind of behaviour we saw in the British bus industry 30 years ago especially by Stagecoach. Next thing you know they’ll be running competition off the roads.”
FlixBus is a relative newcomer to the UK transport scene and partnered Scottish company McGill’s to provide regular coach services, up to hourly by the summer, for Glasgow, Edinburgh, Perth, Dundee and Stirling. FlixBus has transported tens of thousands of people to and from Aberdeen since its launch in August.
This is all part of FlixBus’s plans to build the largest intercity coach network in the UK. The collaboration will by summer see 25 luxury coaches on the FlixBus-McGill’s partner network.
Stagecoach, now owned by Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank don’t own the bus station but they have a mandate to run it and without warning, announced that FlixBus cannot be given any further slots to pick up and drop off passengers as part of their expansion plans. Now FlixBus are being forced to operate from the street as they cannot have some stops in the station and some outside. This now sees passengers carrying suitcases and other luggage on the street which is totally unacceptable.
Stagecoach’s Managing Director for North Scotland, David Beaton, informed Flixbus Managing Director Andreas Schorling in an email on April 24, that owing to a recent Health and Safety Assessment that the FlixBus slots would be withdrawn.
Mr Schorling said: “Stagecoach has an ownership stake in Scottish Citylink which is a direct competitor to FlixBus and operates some of the lines for them. There is a glaring conflict of interests when it comes to their management of the bus station.”
Flixbus’s legal adviser Professor Peter Watson of PBW Law has now intimated by letter to Stagecoach at their Inverness HQ that a formal complaint will be submitted to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) should the matter not be immediately resolved.
Professor Watson points out that the so-called “Health and Safety assessment” has never been seen by FlixBus.
He added: “Stagecoach and its associated company Citylink are in a dominant position insofar as the operation of the Aberdeen bus station. Our clients’ inability to provide further services for which there is demand has the effect of restricting competition and frustrating customer demand. Our client has suffered loss and will continue to suffer loss as a direct result of Stagecoach’s actions. Our client considers the situation requires, in the public interest, a full and open investigation by the CMA.”
McGill’s CEO Ralph Roberts, who is also President of the Confederation of Passenger Transport, added: “This situation could have been resolved amicably and swiftly. I am hopeful we can still achieve this. I am certain we all share the goal of having more and more people travel by bus. I hope Stagecoach share my views.”
