cost of buying and leasing buses since 2016

Summary

The requester asked for the cost of buying and leasing buses since 2016 with a breakdown of vehicle types. The Department of Infrastructure confirmed no buses are currently leased but withheld purchase costs under Section 30 of the Freedom of Information Act 2015 due to commercial sensitivity.

Key Facts

• No buses in the Bus Vannin fleet are currently leased.
• Leasing was previously evaluated and found to be much more expensive than buying.
• Purchase costs for buses are exempt from disclosure to protect commercial interests.
• In 2016, the department purchased 2 Mercedes City 45s and 4 Mercedes Citaro Ks.
• In 2017, the department purchased 2 Wright Volvo double deckers.

Data Disclosed

• 2016
• 2017
• 2 Mercedes City 45s
• 4 Mercedes Citaro Ks
• 2 Wright Volvo double deckers
• Section 30
• 2018-02-24
• 2018-02-28

Exemptions Cited

• Section 30 of the Freedom of Information Act 2015 (Commercial interests)

Original Request

Please can I be advised the cost of buying and leasing buses since 2016? Please can the reply include the breakdown of vehicle types

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

Department of Infrastructure Sea Terminal Building, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 2RF

FOI Reference No: IM122319I Request under the Freedom of Information Act 2015 (“The Act”)

Thank you for your request dated 24th February 2018

Your request

Please can I be advised the cost of buying and leasing buses since 2016? Please can the reply include the breakdown of vehicle types.

Response to your request

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested; the reasons are shown as part of the corresponding answers below;

Leasing - In this instance the public authority does not hold or cannot, after taking reasonable steps to do so, find the information that you have requested. No buses in the Bus Vannin fleet are leased at the present time. The last time this was evaluated, leasing was found to be much more expensive. Buying – In this instance the information requested is exempt under section 30 of the Act, as disclosure would be likely to prejudice the commercial and economic interests of the Department, Mercedes and Wrights. Disclosure of this information would have a direct detriment on each party’s ability to participate competitively in future vehicle sales and acquisition, and in the reputation of, and business confidence in each party. In 2016 we purchased 2 Mercedes City 45s and 4 Mercedes Citaro Ks. In 2017 we purchased 2 Wright Volvo double deckers. The purchase costs are subject to commercial confidentialities.
Please note that there are no published prices for any full size bus where they are built to an individual specification for an operator.

Section 30 of the Act is a qualified exemption and therefore subject to a public interest test and a prejudice test.

The outcome of the prejudice test was as follows: Mercedes-Benz and Wright have supplied Transport Services bespoke buses and the details of the prices were subject to negotiation. As such, the detail and costings of the purchased buses are commercially sensitive. The commercial interests of both bus manufacturers would be affected by disclosure if details of the purchase and costings of the fleet were seen to be more favourable to Transport Services than those offered by the manufacturers to purchasers of similar vehicles. The commercial interests of Transport Services would also be affected, if the terms and costs of purchase of the vehicles were found to be significantly less favourable than prospective competitors would have offered to Transport Services in future.

In assessing where the public interest lies, the following factors have been considered.

In favour of disclosure:

 Likely to improve public confidence in the degree to which Transport Services has purchased buses that are value for money.  Likely to improve the degree to which business can respond to Public Sector opportunities.  Likely to improve public awareness of how public money is being spent.

In favour of maintaining the exemption and withholding the information:

 The need to protect the commercial interests of the private sector in general and Mercedes- Benz and Wright in particular. The recognition of the role that protection of private sector commercial interests has in the general health of the economy.  The need to protect the commercial interests of the public sector in general and Transport Services in particular. The recognition of the role that protection of public sector commercial interests has in the wider context of the public interest.
 The possibility that disclosure of the information would result in financial instability.

Having balanced the factors in favour of disclosure with the factors in favour of maintaining the exemption, we consider that the exemption under Section 30 currently outweighs the public interest in disclosure for this request.

Your right to request a review

If you are unhappy with this response to your Freedom of Information request, you may ask us to carry out an internal review of the response, by completing a complaint form and submitting it electronically to foi.doi@gov.im or by delivery/post to The FOI Co-ordinator, Department of Infrastructure, Sea Terminal Buildings, Douglas, IM1 2RF. An electronic version and paper version of our complaint form can be found by going to our website at www.gov.im/foireview

Your review request should explain why you are dissatisfied with this response, and should be made as soon as practicable. We will respond as soon as the review has been concluded.

If you are not satisfied with the result of the review, you then have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner for a decision on;

1 Whether we have responded to your request for information in accordance with Part 2 of the Freedom of Information Act; or

2 Whether we are justified in refusing to give you the information requested.

In response to an application for review, the Information Commissioner may, at any time, attempt to resolve a matter by negotiation, conciliation, mediation or another form of alternative dispute resolution and will have regard to any outcome of this in making any subsequent decision. More detailed information on your rights to review is on the Information Commissioner’s website at: www.inforights.im/

Should you have any queries concerning this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Further information about Freedom of Information requests can be found at https://www.gov.im/about-the-government/freedom-of-information/

Yours sincerely

Freedom of Information Response Team