BUS DEREGULATION IN SOUTH TYNESIDE: A REVIEW OF THREE YEARS EXPERIENCE

This paper discusses the considerable changes of bus services in South Tyneside, England, since deregulation began on 26th October 1986. The network of services has expanded slightly, by introducing services to some areas that previously did not have any. Completely new services have been confined mainly to secured or tendered services, rather than commercial decisions by the operators. The retention and modest expansion of the existing bus network have been achieved at the cost of: (1) unstable service provision; (2) public perceptions of unreliability; (3) increased fares; (4) worse wages and conditions of service for bus crews; (5) environmental problems including noise, disturbance and congestion. Before deregulation, public transport services in Tyne and Wear were fully integrated and were generally accepted as being the best in the UK; bus services were planned to provide a comprehensive coverage of the area, including good off-peak services, and subsidies were paid on a network basis. Since then, deregulation has not been as disasterous as most people predicted, but it has not succeeded either. Predicted lower fares from competition have not appeared, and the local service network is fairly unstable, but so far the local bus companies have remained in local control and benefitted from local management. (TRRL) (Author/TRRL)

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/03091384
• Corporate Authors:

  Royal Town Planning Institute

  26 Portland Place
  London W1N 4BE,   England 
• Authors:
  • Marshall, D
• Publication Date: 1990-8-10

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: p. 14-19
• Serial:
  • Planner
  • Volume: 76
  • Issue Number: 31
  • Publisher: Royal Town Planning Institute
  • ISSN: 0309-1384

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bus transportation; Competition; Costs; Deregulation; Evaluation; Improvements; Level of service; Networks; Persons with disabilities; Public transit; Traffic congestion; Transportation
• Uncontrolled Terms: Increase; Transportation networks
• Geographic Terms: United Kingdom
• ITRD Terms: 1272: Bus; 235: Competition; 632: Congestion (traffic); 224: Cost; 1726: Disabled person; 9020: Evaluation (assessment); 9108: Improvement; 9032: Increase; 653: Level of service; 1054: Network (traffic); 744: Public transport; 241: Tariff; 8119: United Kingdom
• Subject Areas: Planning and Forecasting; Transportation (General);

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00623790
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 31 1992 12:00AM