Bus Deregulation in the Metropolitan Areas

In 1985 the British Government passed a Transport Act that deregulated bus operations outside London following 55 years of regulation. Supporters of the Act predicted that deregulation would lead to more and better services, lower fares, loweer subsidies, and more passengers. This book, based on a three-year study carried out by the Oxford Transport Studies Unit, examines the actual effects of bus deregulation in Great Britain. The study reveals that meny of the forecast benefits of deregulation have not emerged: There is a marked tendency towards consolidation of firms in the industry, and while operating costs have declined, so has the number of passengers carried, and deregulation has placed severe limits on the extent to which local authorities can use bus services as an instrument of transport policy.