(26 Oct 2022, 8:12 pm)Economic505 wrote The simple solution is full regulation or franchise. No more pussy footing about, let’s return to something akin to pre 26th October 1986.But you can't "turn the clock back" 36 years just like that!!
37 years ago there wasn't Sunday trading; there weren't out of town business parks; there weren't large housing estates being built well away from main bus routes'; there wasn't work from home - nearly everyone travelled 5 days a week to a relatively local job, whereas now many people travel 20-30 miles each way per day to work. Large numbers of people were employed in heavy industry with works buses providing transport (steel works, coal mines, Team Valley et al).
If you are not in your mid 50s you can't really remember pre-deregulation - let's not forget that deregulation (36 years - 1986 to 2022) has lasted longer than the PTE/NBC era (17 years - 1969 to 1986) and the Nationalised (BTC/THC) era (21 years - 1948 to 1969).