Bus deregulation

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Bus deregulation in Great Britain came into force on 26 October 1986, as part of the Transport Act 1985.

The 'Buses' White Paper (under the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher) was the basis of the Transport Act 1985, which provided for the deregulation of local bus services in the whole of the United Kingdom except for Northern Ireland and Greater London. It proposed the abolishing of road service licensing and the allowed for the introduction of competition on local bus services for the first time since the 1930s.

Two kinds of bus service can be provided: commercial and subsidised. Any bus operator can run whatever commercial services it wanted to as long as it gives 56 days notice of an introduction of a new service, withdrawal of a service or timetable changes. Commercial services are not eligible for any subsidy (except for the provision of concessionary fares) but can charge whatever fares they wanted.

The only cross-subsidy allowed is for commercial reasons, e.g. for a large operator to maintain its network at all times of the day so to keep customer loyalty or so to maintain the attractiveness of that company's travelcard (one which is only valid on that operator). However, this was later amended to allow for 'Quality Partnerships' between local authorities and operators, where an operator agrees to improve a service, in return for infrastructure improvements paid for by the local authority (usually bus lanes or bus stops/shelters).

If there are gaps in the commercial bus network, local authorities (in shire counties) and PTEs (in metropolitan areas) are able to design bus services which bus operators can be paid to operate. These are routes which the local authority or PTE considers as socially necessary, but are not commercially viable. The fares, routes and times of these subsidised services are set by the local authority or PTE. However, local authorities and PTEs are required to seek competitive tenders for these services.

Subsidised services in urban areas (also known as tendered services) are often evening, early morning or Sunday journeys on routes which are commercial during the day on Monday to Saturday. Many rural routes are subsidised at all times of their operation.

[edit] Effects

Even though the advent of competition has in some places improved service levels and reduced fares, the lack of local authority control over bus services have meant that many of the more outlying areas have seen significantly reduced service, especially off-peak. Fares have also gone up significantly in some rural areas and where there are local monopolies.

Aside from healthy competition on service levels and price, critics have claimed deregulation has caused some undesirable effects. For example, large companies like Stagecoach and First can use their considerable buying power to completely take over the market in a region, using services and tactics that are meant to drive out competition rather than serve the customer better. Some areas see several companies running the same services at roughly the same times with the express purpose of drawing customers away from each other. Such "bus wars" often end in the smaller companies ceasing to operate the route, leading to increased patronage of the larger provider. An example of this practice is the lucrative No. 192 bus route in Manchester where two large companies began a "bus war" in March 2006, leading to complaints of increased traffic congestion and concerns over safety of passengers and pedestrians. [1]

Critics of bus deregulation have pointed out that bus usage has fallen considerably since deregulation, but in London where it is still regulated, bus usage has risen (see London Buses). This may reflect the unique travel patterns of the capital as well as significant investment in new services and vehicles, but this effect predates the London congestion charge which came into force in 2003; bus usage in London has been rising since 1993.

Where bus use has increased outside of London it has been in areas where the local authorities transport policies are well coordinated through Quality Partnerships and where investment in public transport infrastructure, such as bus lanes, is prioritised. Prime examples are in Brighton and Oxford, but also passenger growth has been seen, for example, through Kickstart projects where initial service subsidy leads onto full commercial operation.

[edit] References

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