Buses on Show

If any of you saw the BBC’s The Politics Show on buses on 18 June, you’ll know that the re-regulation debate has hit centre stage. How timely, given that the House of Commons’ transport committee is asking awkward questions, like “Why are there no quality contracts?”, “Has deregulation worked?” and, “Is London a model for the UK?” The fact that buses reached The Politics Show at all shows there’s a popular (misguided?) groundswell for change; that the public, who’ve never understood deregulation, views the bus service as a public asset, not a commercial business.

There were rumours on the programme that the government will bow to increasing pressure for a change in the rules. The show even felt that the government might make changes this year. routeONE points out that, unlike on other occasions, this wasn’t later denied by civil servants.

Local transport’s certainty risen up the political agenda. Even the Conservatives were going green, before their relatively successful May local election victories.

Change will cost dearly, and that’s not just in pounds, shillings and pence. London Mayor Livingstone was honest about that on the programme. If change comes, there will be massive implications for operators. But the change for the PTEs might be even more dramatic – they might be scrapped. The PTEs have each lobbied hard during the transport committee’s evidence gathering but with the prospect of each major conurbation having the potential for a London-style TfL, the debate may just be the last song of a dying swan.

More on what the PTEs each had to say before the committee, a “failed experiment”, soon.

Meanwhile, later today, expect a vigorous defence of deregulation from Stagecoach, National Express, First Group, Arriva, Go Ahead and Uni-Link, called before the committee.