Singing the praises of council control of bus service networks

Rhodri Clark

15 May 2008

Lightly used winter Sherpa services are sustained with the help of revenue from summer services, because commercial operators have refrained from 'cherry picking' peak revenues

This Gower Explorer vehicle at the south Gower seaside village of Port Eynon has connected out of a Swansea-Rhossili service and will connect into a working to Swansea before continuing to villages in north and west Gower

Perhaps it is only natural for bus operators to fear that little good will come from the powers in the Local Transport Bill to help local government establish statutory Quality Partnership Schemes or Quality Contracts for bus services in a given area. And the National Assembly for Wales could go even further, voting in April to explore the possibility of legislation to permit London-style franchising. When buses were deregulated in 1986 the main task left to local authorities was to pick over...