Soaring costs of franchise bidding

摘要

Managing Director Dean Finch put the cost of National Express's abortive Great Western franchise bid at ￡1 Omillion. Virgin has quoted its bidding costs for the cancelled ICWC replacement franchise at ￡13million. But in the last round of franchising, ten years ago or so, the rule of thumb was that a bid cost between ￡3million and ￡5million.