A common complaint about rail fares is how complex they are. That trying to work out the cheapest fare often requires a great deal of research and knowledge. Given how many times friends and family have asked me what the best ticket to buy for whatever scenario, there has to be some truth in this. But it's not a problem isolated to trains. It's true of buses as well. And other modes of travel like trams too.
Rumours that this Bus Week series was just a flimsy excuse to show pictures of old buses dressed up as a study of politics and the way it was applied to public transport are, frankly, unjust and uncalled for.
In the 1980s and 1990s a series of changes saw the UK's bus operations go from mostly publicly owned, to mostly privately owned. In a series of privatisations, bus companies were flogged off. But in the intervening 25 years, what has actually happened is that the UK's bus market has come under the control of a handful of large companies. So what actually happened to the UK's publicly owned bus operations?
It's been 25 years since bus deregulation came into foce in Great Britain. Well most of the country anyway. Indeed it's been 25 years since bus deregulation didn't happen in London.
