Dereg — in the best Chinese tradition
13th April 1985, Page 51
13th April 1985
Page 51
Page 51, 13th April 1985
— Dereg — in the best Chinese tradition
Close
Noticed an error?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
COULD it be that Nicholas Ridley got the idea of deregulating the bus lines from a Communist, not a capitalist?
I ask because a British delegation of transport specialists descending upon China will find that Peking's buses never have been regulated.
And the whole business of deregulation is getting curiouser and curiouser. Some bus industry people have dug out a long-forgotten document called the Phesiger Report.
It looked at the road service licensing system in the early Fifties for the Conservative Government of the day, and against a background of low car ownership in which competition could thrive, it gave regulation a clean bill of health.
Deregulation opponents today wonder why competition is so attractive in a declining market.