Introduction
In a city, many people live and work close together. They are big, multi-layered
structures that need a lot of different kinds of systems to work. City complexity can cause
problems if it isn't well-managed. This is true even if the city is very big. The efficiency of a
city's transportation system is very important to its ability to move people, goods, and
services between a lot of different places. The presence of transportation terminals like ports,
airports, and railyards boosts a city's place in a regional and global transportation system.
However, they are also a part of a set of problems that need to be dealt with. There are both
old and new problems that cities around the world have to deal with, like traffic jams and
environmental consequences, but there are ways to solve both.
Stagecoach group
The Stagecoach Group, which is based in Perth, Scotland, is a transportation company
in Scotland. In the United Kingdom, buses, fast coaches, and trams are used to get people
around. When it first started, it did a lot of work all over the world. It did work in Africa and
Asia, as well as continental Europe and the United States. It can be bought and sold on the
London Stock Market. Stagecoach was born in the early 1980s when the British express
coach industry was deregulated. In 1976, Ann Gloag and her husband Robin Gloag started a
small recreational vehicle and minibus rental business in Perth, Scotland, called Gloagtrotter.
Stagecoach's roots can be traced back to that time (Bhugra, 2002). Brian Souter, Ann's
brother, worked for the company and helped it grow into the bus rental business. Robin
Gloag gave up his share of the company in 1982 after his marriage to Ann broke down.
During the Transport Act of 1980, which freed express services of 35 miles or more from the
control of the Traffic Commissioner, Neoplan coaches were used to start services from
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Dundee to London. This gave the company more options. While Ann Gloag made
sandwiches and drinks for the people who worked for the company, Brian Souter drove.
Transport in UK
"About Towns: How Transport Can Help Towns Thrive," a paper from the Urban
Transport Group, says that transportation can help many of the problems facing post-
industrial cities in the UK, such as unemployment, underinvestment, and a lack of housing,
be solved by transportation. New jobs and investment may be created, and previously
undeveloped land may be available for development because of transportation, the findings
say. Tobyn Hughes, the chair of the Urban Transport Group, says that city economies have
played a big role in transportation policy discussions. As a result, post-industrial towns in the
UK are getting more and more attention for how they help the local economy and the people
who live there.
In June, UK became the first big country to pass a law to cut back on its role in global
warming. There must be no greenhouse gas emissions at all by 2050, as required by the Paris
Agreement, which was signed in 2015. They say it's too late for the environment, but other
people think it's just a dream. People don't know what the next 30 years will look like, no
matter what they want. To meet the new goal, however, the country will have to stop using
fossil fuels, such as natural gas and diesel, as well as gasoline. This is not an easy task,
though. According to The Climate Group, transportation is now the biggest source of
greenhouse gas pollution in Britain, accounting for 23% of emissions. This is a big change
from how transportation has been thought about for a long time: Our net zero goal means that
the transportation sector will need to use all of its skills and experience to cut down on the
emissions of individual cars and demand for motorized transportation. There are five main
things that must be done to get through.
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Congestion is a major issue with public transportation in large cities. Even while
congestion may occur in every city, it is more prevalent at a population of 1 million. There
has been a surge in the requirement for transportation infrastructures, which has resulted in
increasing congestion. But infrastructure expansion hasn't always kept pace with the rise in
mobility. The demand for parking space has increased due to the fact that automobiles spend
most of their time parked. Especially in regions where parked automobiles have a big
footprint, this has caused issues with footprint. Three times as many people will be trapped in
traffic by the end of the 21st century as in the final few decades of the 20th century,
according to the latest traffic study.
One or two lanes of urban traffic are obstructed by on-street parking, which
contributes to congestion. Furthermore, the practice of "cruising" for a parking spot adds to
the already-existing congestion. Cruising may make up as much as a tenth of the traffic in
densely populated areas. Finding a parking spot might take up to 20 minutes for some drivers.
A lot of people believe that this technique is more cost-effective than parking in a paid lot
(LYAPINA et al., 2020). Finding free or low-cost parking is well worth the effort. Due to the
fact that many delivery cars may double-park in order to discharge their products swiftly,
parking slows down deliveries.
To go to and from work, people are spending longer periods of time in the traffic. As
a result, more individuals are choosing to live in areas that aren't near to where most of the
employment can be found, resulting in an increase in the number of people migrating there.
And therefore, commuting time is being exchanged for cheaper homes by commuters. You're
more likely to be alone and have worse health if you're far away from your loved ones or pals
(obesity). The time spent commuting may have been better spent doing other things, both
financially and socially. There are a number of activities that passengers can do on the train
thanks to information technology, though.
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It is common for public transportation networks or sections of them to be either
overused or underutilized due to variations in demand for public transportation. During peak
hours, the system needs to cope with a sudden increase in demand for a short period of time.
This poses the challenge of how to ensure that there are sufficient transportation
infrastructures and service levels available. Off-peak hours are not taken into consideration
when creating a capacity plan. During peak hours, you should expect a lot of traffic if you
prepare for average capacity. Many services, particularly in the suburbs, are unprofitable
because of low patronage. It is a common fact that public transportation systems do not
generate enough revenue to cover their ongoing running and construction expenses, despite
receiving substantial financial assistance from the government and other sources (like tolls).
Now since public transit is so essential to urban mobility, debts were considered acceptable in
the past because they were regarded to be acceptable because of the costs involved.
They may be caused by traffic jams or a lack of attention to people who walk, bike,
and use other non-motorized modes of transportation when infrastructure and amenities are
built. Bicycle routes, on the other hand, cut down on the space in streets and parking spaces.
If there was more non-motorized transportation space than there was demand for, it would
make congestion worse. Most public roads are free and open to everyone. People who used to
use the streets for things like market places, agoras, parades, and processions now have to use
other ways to get around (Hovell & Jones, 1975). This includes sports and community
activities. They have been gradually replaced by cars as a way to get around. Many of these
activities have been moved to shopping malls, while others have been completely stopped. A
lot of how people live and interact with each other is influenced by traffic patterns and how
street space is used. People have less time to talk to their neighbors and do other things on the
street because there is more traffic. You can't walk or ride your bike when there is a lot of
traffic.
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Cities can't keep up with the costs and demands of a transportation system that is
getting older. Routine maintenance and repairs not only cost money, but they also slow down
the flow of traffic. As a result of the benefits of saving money now, but the risk of future
costs and infrastructure failure, many people put off maintenance. When a country's roads
and highways get bigger, so does the cost of maintaining them. It's the same with public
transportation infrastructure, which needs to be kept up at all levels. People living in cities
have had their quality of life and even their health harmed by pollution, especially the noise
made by traffic. In the last few years, there has been a big rise in the amount of energy used
by transportation in cities (Herbane, 2012). This has led to a big rise in the amount of
petroleum used. Concerns about peak mobility are pushing people to use more efficient and
environmentally friendly ways of getting around in cities, like public transportation, instead
of cars. There is a lot of pressure on urban transportation systems to "decarbonize" because
more and more people are using things like electric cars.
In countries that are still developing, more traffic in cities leads to more traffic-related
accidents and deaths. Getting stuck in traffic is usually caused by accidents. More people on
the road makes people feel less safe. Information technology has caused some strange things
to happen. Smartphones and tablets have been linked to an increase in traffic accidents for
both drivers and pedestrians because they can be hard to put down. People who drive cars
have a big impact on the environment. In some cities, up to 60% of the land may be used for
transportation (Connolly, 2014). This is because too many people rely too much on roads for
transportation. It also shows how important transportation is to a city's economic and social
well-being because mobility is a sign of efficiency and success. As the economy has become
more material, cities have seen more freight move through them. The transportation of goods
in cities is becoming more and more controversial as the infrastructure for passenger
transportation is shared more and more. As more people buy things online and get them
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delivered to their homes, the demand on urban freight transportation has grown. If you want
to make it easier for people to get their goods to and from cities, you can make city logistics
solutions.
In the United Kingdom, people don't prefer to rely on their cars. To encourage
citizens to drive, the government has prioritized building new roads and making driving more
inexpensive than providing adequate public transit during the last several decades. Outside
the major cities, public transit is a complete disaster. For most hospitals, schools, and retail
establishments, a vehicle is a must, and 40% of job applicants report that this prevents them
from obtaining employment. Many unpleasant things happen to those who depend
excessively on automobiles. Even though 78 percent of households possess a vehicle, one out
of every five males and one out of every three women do not drive. In our car-dependent
society, women bear the brunt because they are more likely to have children and to drive, and
because males are more likely to drive and to have children. The likelihood of owning an
automobile increases linearly with income (or several). Consequently, impoverished people
are more impacted by our transportation system's inefficiencies since they lack the financial
resources to do so. People who are unable or unwilling to use a motor vehicle are shackled by
a society built around them (Emmerson & Tetlow, 2015).
Public transport has been underfunded for a long time, which has resulted in
expensive, delayed, or nonexistent services. In the past decade alone, it has been reduced by
roughly £400 million, and railway fares in the UK are among the most expensive in Europe.
People who reside outside of major cities have the most difficulty using public transit. 96% of
urban residents can walk to a bus stop with an hourly schedule within 13 minutes. Fewer than
half of rural residents have this sort of access. Because of the outbreak, bus and train services
have been slashed throughout the nation. Bus services in Basingstoke and East Midlands train
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services in the region have been reduced, and residents are concerned about how they will get
home safely.
The UK's poorest citizens suffer disproportionately as a result of the country's
automobile reliance. According to a recent research, children from impoverished homes are
28 times more likely to die on the road than those from wealthy ones. As a result, the most
polluted areas of the city are located in the poorest areas (Wincott et al., 2020). As a result,
these areas have a higher incidence of heart disease, asthma, cancer, and other health issues.
Despite the fact that they utilize public transit at a higher rate than any other demographic,
people of color are more likely to encounter difficulties. Urban residents of color may be less
healthy than they may be due of increased levels of air and noise pollution (Primacheva &
Stachov, 2019).
In London, black individuals are more likely to develop ill from air pollution than
Asians or whites. The government should do more to encourage people to utilize public
transit and other ecologically friendly means of transportation instead than driving their own
automobiles. Even if we construct additional roads, this would just increase the country's
reliance on automobiles among those who are already dissatisfied with the slowness of the
UK's public transit system.
Evaluation of cash flow of Stagecoach Company using accounting ratios
Ratio analysis of stagecoach
Accounting ratios
i) Current ratio = (current assets/ current liabilities)
2018
(180/95)= 1.89
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2019
(215/100)= 2.15
2020
(255/110)=2.32
In many cases, the current ratios that are lower than that of the industry indicate that the
company might be at risk of any catastrophic event that might attack the industry. The
management of the stagecoach might be in the position where they are substantially
underutilizing their current resources more than their rivals. The current ratio incorporates all
the liabilities and the assets that are much current than any other assets or liability. For
stagecoach, some of the current assets and liabilities are the likes of taxes, salaries, accounts
payable, and even a fraction of the current liabilities. As of the end of 2020, the company is
expecting to get more than $2.32 in form of current assets from every dollar of liability. From
2018 to 2020 the company’s current ratio is on the rise up to 2.32 in the year 2020. This value
is more than 2 a value that is most suitable for a company. This ratio is very critical since it
measures the ability of a given country to meet a given short-term liability. When a current
ratio is above 2 then it is an indication that the assets are not effectively used which is the
case with Stagecoach Company.
ii) Debt to equity ratio=(total debt/total equity)
2018
(175/125)=1.4
2019
(190/205)=0.93
2020
(210/285)=0.74
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This is a ratio that is a great metric that is used in the evaluation of the business's financial
leverage. It is an identification of the capacity of a given company to meet its obligations
against any amount of cash that is made available for investment. If a given organization
cannot pay for the current commitments then it may become very difficult for it to be given
credit since it is reflected all through its financial institutions. the higher the ratio the riskier
the long-term investments made by the stakeholders. The main reason is that the risks are
mainly linked with the long-term liabilities. The company’s debt to equity ratio is taken to be
a bit fair since it has been fluctuating from 1.4 in 2018 to 0.93 in 2019 and opted further to
0.74 in 2020. This is an indication that the stagecoach company is having more debts than
equity. Thus in this case this ratio is an indication of a positive sign in the company.
iii) Return on capital employed=(profits before interests and tax/capital
employed)
2018
(140)/(300-175)=1.12
2019
(135)/(395-190)=0.63
2020
(115/185)=0.40
The most significant part of the ratio was the first year when it was 1.12. the ratio for
stagecoach has been depreciating over time to 40% in the year 2020. Thus it is an indication
that stagecoach is declining in its metrics. This ratio is the main indication of a given
company’s performance. Most of the investors get to be favoring the companies whose
ROCE increases as time moves by since it indicates that the company is likely to make more
profits.
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iv) Debt ratio=(total liabilities/total assets)
2018
(175/300)=0.58
2019
190/395=0.48
2020
(210/495)=0.42
This is a ratio that will determine the stagecoach company’s financial leverage. The debts
ratio was standing at 0.54 by the year 2020 where it reduced to 0.48. The debts ratio is much
favorable to stagecoach and can play a paramount role in convincing the investors to invest in
it.
v) Asset turnover ratio=(net sales/total sales)
2018
(500/300)=1.67
2019
(550/395)=1.39
2020
(560/495)=1.13
This ratio is used to determine if the organization is effectively using its assets to generate
revenues. Stagecoach asset turnover was highest in the year 2018. The moment when the
coronavirus struck the turnover came lower to 1.39 in the year 2019 and as the time went by
it was expected to lose much even to 1.13 in 2020. It is an indication that the company has a
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huge amount of assets that are not subjected to its full potential thus the reduction of the
revenues that it has generated when it is compared to the assets that it has.
vi) Working capital turnover=(net sales/net working capital)
2018
500/(180-95)=5.88
2019
(550/115)=4.78
2020
(560/145)=3.86
When a company is registering the highest turnover ratio then the company is doing
nicely in the industry. It is also an indication of the amount that is generated from each pound
that is invested in the business. When the ratio is lower then it is an indication that the
company is mainly depending on the accounts receivables. Thus this situation might lead to
bad debts and even old inventories for the company. For the three years, the company has
been reducing the ratio from 5.88 to 2.78 to 3.76 in the year 2020. Thus it shows that the
company's ability to use the capital in promoting the sales and its growth has largely reduced
thus it is considering a merger with national express.
The above analysis shows the different accounting ratios of stagecoach from the year
2018 to 2020 that shows its financial position over the years.
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National Express consulting advice to Approve or reject the Deal and take over
Stagecoach
Having sold its London bus operations to Macquarie Bank in 2006, Stagecoach UK
Bus has turned to buses outside of London, focusing on organic growth and acquisitions.
During the fall of 2005, Stagecoach and Scottish Citylink buses formed a joint venture after
Megabus came up against them with its own coach service. Stagecoach was asked to sell part
of Scotland's bus service in October 2006 (Hrelja et al., 2020). As a bonus, Stagecoach owns
a 49% stake in the Virgin Rail Group. A new franchise called the East Midlands was created
in 2007 when the Midland Mainline franchise and the eastern part of the Central Trains
franchise were merged together (SŁADKOWSKI, 2018). They were able to apply for a new
contract in the East Midlands in 2007. It was July 2007 when Stagecoach started running the
trams in Manchester. Stagecoach bought Preston Bus, a competitor in Lancashire, in January
2009. Stagecoach had to sell Preston Bus in November 2009 because it had hurt competition
in the area.
During the month of October 2010, Stagecoach bought back Stagecoach's bus service
in East London and Selkent. During the first half of a ten-year contract, Stagecoach ran
Manchester Metrolink. In August 2011, RATP Group bought the contract (Vickerman, 1996).
Norfolk Green was a King's Lynn-based bus company. Stagecoach bought the company in
December 2013. In March 2015, Stagecoach gave Virgin Trains East Coast the InterCity East
Coast franchise. Stagecoach owns 90% of Virgin Trains East Coast. At the end of June 2018,
Stagecoach tried to buy the franchise for too much. The deal was called off on June 23, 2018.
The introduction of stagecoach will definitely help in reducing traffic problems in UK.
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