Competition wins: Cardiff
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MOST PEOPLE instinctively favour competition in some form, Cardiff City Transport manager David Smith told delegates at the Association of District Council's transport conference at Eastbourne last week.
"But in my experience those who openly support competition only support it as long as they are not at the sharp end of the competition," he said.
Competition between Cardiff and CK Coaches began in April 1981 and ended when CK went out of business earlier this year. The rivalry provided a temporary re-generation of interest in buses by the general public — an interest which was fading well before the competition ceased, said Mr Smith. For the bus industry, the Monopolies and Mergers Commission studies will have reverberations throughout the industry for the next decade, claimed Mr Smith.
"Many of the Commission's recommendations, although addressed to the four undertakinga in the survey, are clearly intended for the industry in general. It is therefore essential that the industry generally should be consulted before any steps are taken to implement recommendations of industry-wide application.
"In this context the four undertakings [in the survey) have, in effect, been the bus industry's standard bearers. I believe the industry owes a great debt to them for defending its record."
Mr Smith concluded that no one organisation has a monopoly of public transport provision.