In that same article was this:
Quote:
“There is also the issue of the cost of fuel. When you take on a school contract, for example, you have to state a set price up front for the length of that contract, and that doesn’t take into account the fact that fuel prices fluctuate. A lot of drivers will see this as just another extra financial burden.”
Read more at:
http://www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk/ne ... -1-4615203Thers a bit of a flaw with this new Framework questionare for School runs and the likes, the Price per mile categories start with a price for a vehicle of up to 8 passenger seats where as in the past it was up to 4 Passenger seats and then 5 to 8 passenger seats, that would mean anyone running a 4 seater car would gain an advantage because they usually charge less and work on a lower tariff than an 5 to 8 seat MPV, their Pence per mile will stand out favourably as it would like be some 50% cheaper than those of us who run a 5 to 8 seater MPv or who run both, there is is no option to put in prices that reflect both seperate vehicle sizes.
It also does not make it clear whether the Price per mile you quote on their qualifying questionnaires based on their example run of 20 miles A to B is inclusive of dead miles or purely passenger miles, that happened a few years ago and one of the biggest Taxi co's in the borders cocked up and entered purely a price based on the time the passenger was aboard and when they won the contracts because the prices they quoted were half the price of everyone else and when they won the lions share of the runs they were screwed because they could not afford to run them at a loss...they folded and left the SBC in a pickle and left many of us missing out on contracts our correctly priced runs would have otherwise won.
The new framework should either clarify the pricing method or better still remove it all together at this point and allow the prices to be submitted with each contract we contest and bid for, it is supposed to create a Database of suppliers that after they win a place on the framework can then be approached by the SBC school transport, Special needs transport, social services transport and the NHS transport services...the framework is no more than a collection of supplied qualified suppliers which the above purchasers can send out offers of a tender too in order for us contractors to Bid individually on each contract as they appear.
That framework is very poorly drafted, it's one size fits all will not work, only folk with 4 seaters will be on it or idiots that price cheaply and wrongly half the run price....those who submit say 75p per passenger mile equal to £15.00 for a twenty mile passenger journey that takes the actual Contractor 40 miles to complete will be working for only 37.5 PPM...as for owners of 5 to 8 seaers , well they aint even going get a look in in because their price per mile under the 0 to 8 seat pricing option is going to make them look greedy and them and their valuable 8 seat MPVs will price themselves out of of the framework qualifying threshold.
The whole things a joke.