Was D-Reg pointless?

[Bevan Price]

RE: Was D-Reg pointless?
Personally, I think de-reg was about 95% disastrous. A few very busy routes benefitted by getting more frequent services. (Although in some areas, this initially involved the use of bread-van sized minibuses that were too small for the number of passengers wishing to travel.)

Most other routes have seen less frequent services, and often the loss of evening & Sunday + Bank Holiday services. Interference by the "pro-competition commissars" often prevented many bus companies from coordinating services & fares policy, making buses less attractive for passengers (although PTE areas seem to have been able to avoid the worst effects of that policy.

Restricting the ability to cross-subsidise routes led to some routes being put out to "lowest tender", sometimes getting good operators - but all too often getting "less reliable" operators. And, as a further result of tory policy, cash-starved local authorities are now cutting the number of routes they can subsidise.