Maybe we’re seeing the last dying gasps of a 40 year experiment in bus deregulation.   

Many people / companies have made a lot of money in that time, but the public have very little improvement, in terms of service delivery levels, to see and take away from deregulation.   

If operators have to work together to make services sustainable, I’d rather profits generated are ploughed back into public transport than salted away overseas or into the pockets of the wealthy shareholders