LCR Bus Franchising

[teenagewasteland]

RE: LCR Bus Franchising
Bus deregulation was brought in as a reaction to a percieved Socialist agenda that the Conservatives felt certain large conurbations in the UK were following. It had nothing to do with encouraging competition between operators. Fares went through the roof. As of now, the current £2.20 flat fare across Liverpool exists as a cartel between Arriva and Stagecoach, if we apply pre-dereg values, it works out at around 80p. The top fare on Merseyside on the 25th October 1986 was 40p. I'd say the big operators are doing pretty well for their shareholders, at the expense of the travelling public.

Steve Rotheram is right, but he's not going far enough. For all its' troubles, the previous regime was the custodian of our public transport network, it operated buses cheaply and for the benefit of the population. Did it bother me that a precept on my rate bill was going to Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive to go about their business in a manner to benefit all? Not at all. It still doesn't.

If deregulation has been that good, how comes the basic network of routes in and out of the city is roughly the same as it was before this nonsense was rushed through Parliament by a deranged Nicholas Ridley. Surely, if the system was at fault, the new operators now had the opportunity to rectify it? They haven't, because it was good - a legacy of a proper State funded and managed transport network.