Firmer contracts?
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FIRM CONTRACTS between bus operators and shire counties may come as part of the review of the organisation of the bus industry.
moves on privatisation will come until Transport Secretary Nicholas Ridley has completed his review of road service licensing requirements, but said the E106.5m revenue support paid annually to NBC ought not to be a barrier to privatisation.
The £50m support from metropolitan counties was not considered as a subsidy, but as a contract with each of the passenger transport executives.
The DTp's city advisers had said that firmer contracts for the £56.5m support bill from shire counties might be needed and that would not be an insuperable bar to privatisation.
He said it depends in the end on whether investors will get security from their money and whether they will get a return on their investment.
Mr Ridley already has powers to privatise the essentially marketing fronts of National Express and National Holidays, and Mr Lazarus told the committee that it wanted NBC to ensure that the coaching companies' results are set out clearly in its accounts and that they are separated from the remainder of the operation.
Mr Lazarus also said that NBC had repaid £17.5m of its capital debt, and he regarded the Government's target of an £18.5m profit after depreciation and preinterest by 1985 as "not unreasonable".