Alternatives for urban bus services: an international perspective on the British reforms

Around the world, a variety of methods have been employed for providing urban bus services ranging from public monopolies at one extreme to unregulated private firms at the other extreme; the intermediate alternatives usually involve private firms with some degree of public regulation over fares and entry. Public monopoly is common in the developed world while private provision with some form of regulation is the norm among developing countries. The British reforms of 1986 pioneered two schemes for bus provision. First, outside of the London metropolitan area the government created one of the few largely unregulated private regimes in the world (the most notable other recent examples being in Sri Lanka and Chile); second, within London it allowed local public authorities to retain control of the design of the route network and fares but forced them to tender all services to private firms (a scale of tendering heretofore unknown). The most obvious conclusion from the experience of Britain and elsewhere is ...