More views on dereg
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I WRITE to compliment you on the articles concerning the deregulation of public transport (CM December 8).
How refreshing it was to witness an objective article on the future of public transport, and Noel Millier posed many questions which I would hope the municipals will take the opportunity of answering.
Furthermore, I found David Mitchel's response to the questions on the legislation to be both sensible and practical, and his obvious concern at the use of the phrase "cowboy" was well answered when he stated that many operators who use this term had either started or inherited small businesses and I would conclude their definition of "cowboy", in essence, means competitor.
In Mid-Glamorgan the local authority has recently distributed thousands of leaflets in which one paragraph states, "it is also anticipated that buses will be older". What nonsense!
For myself, I recently wrote to the Department of Transport requesting material to publicise the advantages of the new deregulation proposals, unfortunately it would appear that the Dip is not able to provide me with such material, but with the Welsh Consumer Council publicly favouring the arrival of deregulation, I am hopeful that the general public will be persuaded to support the change which I consider is for the better.
Let us hope that municipals, and others, gear themselves up to respond to the huge potential the White Paper brings to public transport, instead of burying their heads in the sand and hoping that the Government gives way. CLAYTON JONES Clayton Jones Transport Services Pontypridd Mid-Glamorganshire