Deregulation: more operators but fewer passengers
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• The number of passengers using buses fell in the first year of bus deregulation, despite a 13% increase in distances travelled and 400 new operators entering the market, says a new report from the Transport and Road Research Laboratory.
It is the first major assessment of deregulation, which came into effect outside London on October 1986, and according to Transport Secretary Paul Channon, it shows that deregulation has been a success and "proves that our critics and the prophets of doom were wrong".
The findings of the £500,000 study, which took several months to collate, are mixed. It says that initially 85% of vehicle distance was operated commercially, but warns that this may be decreasing.
Fares have been generally unaffected, except where competition has led to price wars, says the TRRL, but in metropolitan areas there have been substantial fare increases.
Changes in bus services have "inevitably benefitted some passengers and adversely affected others," says the TRRL report.
One of the main innovations has been the growth in the minibus parc, from 3,000 to 5,000 in nearly 400 areas.
There has been no discernible change in bus safety or maintenance standards in the first year, says the TRRL, which reports a 6% decrease in bus passengers at 5,328 million during the previous 12 months, The report, says Channon, "shows that the 1985 Transport Act gave bus operators the freedom and flexibility they needed and the beneficiaries have been the passengers and ratepayers". The report concludes that the effects of deregulation in the first year varied enormously from place to place and that changes are still occuring at a much faster rate than before deregulation.
El A separate report claims that bus fares have soared and patronage plummeted in many of Britain's biggest cities since deregulation. The Association of Metropolitan Authorities, which represents most metropolitan councils, also says that efficiency savings have led to worse pay and conditions for drivers. It says its own independent research shows that passenger numbers have fallen by between 7.5% and 12.5%.