The answer is very simple, profit
And yet there seems some doubt as to exactly how much profit will be made……
Perhaps I didn’t make my point about STN users funding Manchester councils very well. Let me put it another way. Why should local authorities in Manchester, rather than local authorities in Essex, be allowed to profit from running STN?
Call me old fashioned, but I expect local authorities to be responsible for things like running libraries, cutting the grass in public parks, providing sports centres etc. Activities specific to and adding value to their own governmental area. I can just about accept that their remit, since it includes transport, could extend to a local airport, but becoming a significant investor in a major business with interests in several other parts of the country? It doesn’t seem appropriate to me.