Liberals don't like them
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PASSENGER Transport Executives and the National Bus Company would have a limited future of the Liberal Party came to power.
In a draft transport policy being discussed at their Assembly in Harrogate next week, the Liberals acknowledge a widelyheld view that a fleet size of between 300 and 500 buses is best for urban transport operation, as this provides sufficient back-up, but does not burden it with overmuch bureaucracy.
It is considerably smaller than the existing PTE fleets. We will therefore seek the most practical way of breaking down the existing PTEs into smaller, more manageable units."
More positively, the Liberals say they are committed to reversing the decline in public transport, encouraging off-bus ticket sales, zonal and timebased fares schemes (as operated in Tyne and Wear), and low-cost off-peak travel. They say that public transport operators have been "singularly unimaginative" in marketing their product, blaming this on lack of confidence in their future.
They dismiss the Labour Party's approach to fares policies as less than virtuous, contrasting well-publicised cheap fares in London and South Yorkshire with a 75p fivemile fare in Swansea. There should be fares subsidies, they argue.
The Liberals accuse the shire counties of paying too much attention to road construction and not enough to rural bus provi sion, and say that subsidies should be distributed more equally.
They are unhappy about the performance of NBC, contrasting its "highly successful" operation of National Express with stage provision which, they say, NBC is not generally the appropriate organisation to provide. There should be more coordination of school and social services transport with traditional bus operation.
For long-distance transport, the emphasis is on rail investment, without specific exclusion of coaches, and the Liberals say they hope that NBC's leisurebased business, including National Express, will continue to expand.