MPs warn Govt
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GOVERNMENT policies towards National Bus Company in partic party Commons transport select
The 60 per cent Conservative committee, which is chaired by Labour MP Harry Cowans, has been reviewing the Government's public expenditure plans for transport (CM, March 24) and is worried that forthcoming deregulation and new NBC financial targets could hasten the decline of some stage services.
It has warned that private investment in NBC and any further deregulation of stage services should go ahead only if they can be expected to bring about genuine improvements in the quality and efficiency of local bus services.
An inquiry into bus subsidies in the closing weeks of the last Parliament showed that crosssubsidy is "very widely supported" within the bus industry and by local authorities. The committee is concerned that this could be harmed by any Govern the bus industry in general and the ular have been criticised by the allcommittee.
ment-induced changes and said: "We believe that any regulatory changes which threaten to undermine the scope for crosssubsidisation and, as a consequence, the major networks of local bus services, should be approached with extreme caution."
It is disturbed that NBC's future asset replacement needs are being overstated as the use of full replacement cost for depreciation charges ignores the fact that in a declining market it is buying fewer replacement buses.
The MPs say it is "surprising" that revenue support payments from local authorities are being used to repay NBC's capital debt to the Government, rather than for improvements to local services.
And they are still concerned that the NBC debt is spread unevenly across the network, with some companies being crosssubsidised by their more successful fellow subsidiaries.
They warn that the Government should be careful about setting new targets for NBC's profits, lest these result in further decline of stage services already under severe pressure.
The committee has also criticised the 1983 Transport Act as "irrelevant", saying its protected expenditure limits on the amount of revenue support metropolitan counties and the Greater London Council pay the PTEs and London Transport are substantially above the levels already accepted for Transport Supplementary Grant.