Decline of the bus `can be halted by council planners'

The bus industry outside London is in crisis and will continue to decline unless local authorities are allowed to take on a long-term planning role, according to a year-long study by the Passenger Transport Information Unit.

The unit, a coalition of local councils, found passenger numbers are declining while the number of bus miles is increasing as a result of deregulation.

The report's author, Bruce Allan, said that deregulation a decade ago had not arrested the decline of the bus, contrary to the hopes of Nicholas Ridley, the then Secretary of State for Transport. Mr Allan said: "What has been provided is not cheaper, nor of higher quality and has not attracted new bus users." He added that in some areas, "fares had gone through the roof" and smaller operators were being squeezed out by bigger firms who were then able to reap the profits of a monopoly.

The bus industry outside London, where services were deregulated in 1986, is divided into commercial services and those subsidised by councils, which represent 14 per cent of mileage.

Studying services in Derbyshire, Tayside and Merseyside, Mr Allan found that councils planned carefully to ensure that the money was spent in a way that met social needs.

He argues that unlike in the previous period of bus deregulation in the 1930s, buses were no longer the main form of transport and therefore the competitive model was inappropriate. When the environmental demands for more energy efficient transport were more widely recognised, "public transport authorities will the key role in planning and re-re-regulating the bus industry".

The report shies away from suggesting that municipal bus companies could again play a significant role in the industry, but says councils should determine the the routes operating in their areas.

However, the Confederation of Public Transport, which represents bus operators, said: "We do not want a return to the days of town hall planning, when the same routes were operated for decades without any examination of needs. While there have been some problems with deregulation, it has resulted in more buses on the roads and few areas have lost services."

9Buses for people - or buses for profit; Public Transport Information Unit, Barclay House, 35 Whitworth Street West, Manchester M15 5NG; £25.