MUNICIPAL BUS OPERATION: THE EFFECT OF THE 1985 TRANSPORT ACT IN THREE CITIES

The bus services operated in the cities of Aberdeen, Plymouth and Southampton before and after 26 October 1986 ("deregulation day") have been compared to investigate the effect of the 1985 Transport Act. In each city the main provider of services was a municipally owned undertaking. A commercially available computer model, BUSMODEL, was used to estimate the patronage and revenues of each service operated and to produce an index of profitability. In all three cities, the profitability index as calculated by BUSMODEL was found to be a good indicator of which services were registered for commercial operation. In particular, those services not registered were shown to have very low earnings. The main conclusion from the study is that, initially at least, deregulation of the bus industry has not caused major changes to the bus services in these three municipal areas. Only in Aberdeen has competition occurred, and in each of the three cities, the new network of commercial and subsidized routes provides a similar service to that operated previously. (TRRL)

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/02665247
• Corporate Authors:

  Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)

  Wokingham, Berkshire  United Kingdom 
• Authors:
  • Hawthorne, I H
  • WALMSLEY, D A
• Publication Date: 1987

Media Info

• Pagination: 20 p.
• Serial:
  • TRRL RESEARCH REPORT
  • Issue Number: 117
  • Publisher: Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)
  • ISSN: 0266-5247

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Before and after studies; Bus transit; Competition; Deregulation; Economics; Estimating; Legislation; Level of service; Profits; Public transit; Revenues; Ridership; Simulation; Transportation
• Geographic Terms: United Kingdom
• Old TRIS Terms: Bus services
• ITRD Terms: 9148: Before and after study; 235: Competition; 8673: Digital computer; 263: Economics of transport; 1556: Legislation; 653: Level of service; 192: Local authority; 6473: Mathematical model; 1054: Network (traffic); 746: Private transport; 217: Profit; 744: Public transport; 8119: United Kingdom; 313: Urban area
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Economics; Planning and Forecasting; Transportation (General);

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00470085
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• Report/Paper Numbers: RR 110
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 31 1988 12:00AM