New style subsidy
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CASH SUPPORT given to the bus industry — bus grant, transport supplementary grant, and fuel duty rebate — may be combined into a new form of subsidy but keeping the total pay-out constant. The predicted end of new bus grant payments in 1980 has prompted the Transport Department to consider the effect of this and issue a consultation paper to trade associations that suggests that bus grant payments will continue to be made up until 1983.
During this period they should be phased down slowly to a lower proportion of vehicle cost and replaced by corresponding increases in transport supplementary grant, suggests the consultation paper.
Most fleets have been largely re-quipped with fairly standard modern vehicles. But the DoT is worried by new manufacturers entering what it sees as a diminishing market. It sees future annual manufacturing levels of around 1,600 double-deckers becoming the norm instead of the present 2,000 or so because it predicts that passenger journeys will continue to decline.
The switch away from bus grant seems aimed at discouraging new manufacturers while keeping oper-tors happy by boosting transport supplementary grant. But this may be only a temporary reprieve as the DoT has apparently set its heart against revenue support in the long run. At present this can be seen from strict TSG limits imposed on Metropolitan Counties.