Busmen face reality
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• Subsidies in the 1970s and 1980s insulated the bus industry from the reality of the market and have cast doubt on whether it is ready for the opportunities of the 1990s, according to professor John Hibbs. He asked delegates at the Bus and Coach Council conference last week whether they had started to think about market share instead of territory. "Are you busmen or businessmen?" he asked. Another speaker called on the bus industry to adopt radical solutions to beat the recruitment problems caused by the "demographic time bomb" that began in 1987.
The shrinking pool of young people meant that employers would have to start recruiting women and older men and introduce job sharing and innovative working contracts, claimed Graham Houston of the Industrial Society.
Stand-by reductions
• National Express and its Scottish subsidiary Caledonian ! Express are cutting many of their long-distance fares despite ! the pressure of increased dery prices.
The firm operates around 700 coaches and has not increased prices since the Gulf Crisis began in August.
Now it is offering reductions of around 20% on stand-by tickets from 28 October, hut customers will have to wait for a later coach if their first choice is fully booked. And it is abandoning its 90p fee for reserved places.