LONDON (AFX) - Prime Minister Tony Blair has thrown his weight behind the campaign to reform bus services in the UK outside London.
Speaking in parliament, Blair said the situation needed to be reviewed twenty years after the then Conservative administration deregulated the system, creating a free-for-all.
The powerful House of Commons Transport select committee last week issued a report which concluded that deregulation had 'failed'.
Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander is said to be 'actively' working on a strategy to reform how bus services are organised, subsidised and regulated.
He said in Sept that 'in too many of our communities we have seen a free-for-all that has left the needs of the public behind'.
'So to ensure the private sector delivers the bus services our communities demand, I will act to empower local communities,'
Blair told MPs he 'fully' supported Alexander's initiative.
'In London, for example, where there has been a tougher system of regulation and the same problems haven't appeared so without in any sense turning the clock back I think it's entirely right to look at this issue again,' he said.
London was exempted from the deregulation law and allowed to introduce private franchises with strict rules over routes, quality and frequency.
Usage in the capital was increased after Mayor Ken Livingstone introduced the 8 stg a day congestion charge payable by motorists who enter a zone around the centre of the city.
This allows him to invest 560 mln stg a year in buses alone. Critics of regional services say operators can 'cherry-pick' lucrative routes and hold passenger transport executives and local councils to ransom over the least profitable services.
Companies such as Arriva PLC, Stagecoach Group PLC, National Express Group PLC and Go-Ahead Group PLC which run regional services are wary of re-regulation and would like to see more partnership deals with local transport authorities. newsdesk@afxnews.com fp//fp/gp COPYRIGHT Copyright AFX News Limited 2006. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News. AFX News and AFX Financial News Logo are registered trademarks of AFX News Limited