Traffic and public transport, Routes | The disaster is not whether Unibuss goes bankrupt or not. It is whether the bus drivers get enough

Opinions This is a debate post. The post expresses the writer’s views.

The gold in Unibuss is the 2,200 employees. As long as there is a shortage of bus drivers, these should be the city council for the environment and transport, Marit Vea (V)’s top priority. If Vea chooses wrongly, the buses in Oslo can quickly become stagnant in both the short and long term. Not because of bankruptcy, but because bus drivers find other jobs.

We who work at Unibus have noticed it well. The company’s future is talked about in almost every corner. Unibus’s owner company Sporveien is negotiating with Ruter about the amount of fees for not fulfilling contract terms. The conditions appear in the tender contracts which are central to the tender system and which until now there has been broad political will to defend.

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Vea does not rule out bankruptcy

Oslo City Council has handed over the planning of public transport including the tenders for the county-owned administration company Ruter. Oslo owns 60 percent of Ruter and the entire Sporveien. So while Oslo municipality negotiates with itself, the bus employees sit and wonder if they should look for other jobs.

Depending on who wins and who loses the tender, the bus drivers have to move. Some because they want to, others because they have to. This is what modern working life is like: You have to find yourself being bossed around

Sporveien and Ruter are doing their best not to talk themselves into bankruptcy. City Council Vea does the opposite, and does not rule out bankruptcy. And even if the bus passengers were to return after a shorter or longer bus stop, it is not certain that the bus drivers will do the same.

While Sporveien operates trams and subways under contract, the bus is out for tender. In Oslo there are five major bus contracts. In the last couple of years, an invisible people’s walk has been carried out between the bus garages. Connect Bus lost the Groruddal contract to Unibuss, but won the Oslo Sør contract from Unibuss. Nobina won the Østensjø contract from Unibuss but lost the Oslo West contract to Unibuss. Unibuss defended the Center contract for the third time.

Depending on who wins and who loses, the bus drivers have to move. Some because they want to, others because they have to. This is what modern working life is like: You have to find yourself being bossed around.

Win by being the cheapest

The obvious now the tender system itself has failed. Some would like to believe that Unibuss has sold itself cheaply in the competition to win the tenders. The entire tender system is based on the assumption that the competing bus companies must undercut each other. Because if you don’t win tender contracts, you don’t get any work to do. And a winner by being the cheapest.

In Oslo, the competition for bus contracts is fierce, so much so that there is only a difference of a few thousandths of a point between the participating bus companies. So passing on awarded contracts does not help. For the competitors, the contracts will be just as unprofitable as for Unibuss.

New bus contracts are always the worst, and least profitable, because the conditions are just squeezed like a lemon. Profitable bus contracts are those that have been renegotiated, with increased frequency or larger buses. Despite its municipal ownership, Unibuss is in this context as commercial as anyone. And after this winter, Unibuss has become Oslo’s leading expert in the operation of electric buses!

What we are really talking about is disclaimer of responsibility at a high level, where Ruter sits in the role of conductor, a role assigned by the elected county politicians in Oslo (and Akershus, which owns 40 percent of Ruter). The tender system, or the Rutermodellen if you will, has failed. The situation we now find ourselves in shows the dark side of the tender system; that it creates more problems than it solves. And it also costs the municipality of Oslo heaps of kroner, which could otherwise have been spent on more and better public transport.

While Oslo cannot manage without Unibuss’ 2,200 employees, the city manages perfectly well without Oslo Venstre

Will not touch his system with tongs

Sporveien has the solution itself, The tramway model is a proven and successful way of operating trams and subways. The question one should ask today is whether dogmatism has taken over in the city council, in the city council and in the city council, where it seems more important to keep a model that does not work, than to adopt a model that has been shown to work.

The really big disaster is therefore not whether Unibuss goes bankrupt or not. It is whether the bus drivers get enough. If Unibuss’ employees choose alternative employment, then the buses stand idle, both in the short and long term.

It is time for a political solution. If there had been municipal elections this autumn, this issue would have been resolved a long time ago. Instead, it seems as if the actors sit and scowl at each other, while the political leadership for the city’s public transport, led by councilor Marit Vea, seems to be meaningless. And who also don’t want to take their own political system with tongs.

It is strange to see that Oslo Venstre distances itself from protecting, preserving and developing public transport. Although it was the outgoing city council that managed to put the five big bus contracts in Oslo out to tender, it happened with the support of the parties in the current city council.

It might be worth thinking about this for later. Because while Oslo cannot manage without Unibuss’ 2,200 employees, the city manages perfectly well without Oslo Venstre.

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