Thats right, Tfl was set up after LRT initially took control of public transport.
When buses were deregulated, the Government at the time decided to create an Act specifically for London. Nowhere else in the country was allowed anything like it until recently - hence the whole point of deregulation...

It has failed and now you have proposals like the QCS who realise deregulation was a disaster for the majority, bar a few shareholders.

By deregulating services - which was supposed to increase competition, the Government were giving the new operators the chance to operate wherever they wanted.
As I said earlier, you cant force Arriva to operate in Washington - but deregulation was set up to encourage it's predecessors to do so.

It can't be one, without the other.

Because of the nature of privatisation, what sort of message would it be giving the taxpayer, if the Government were to accept a low offer? They got their billions and because of that were confident of being able to justify the whole point of privatisation.
If National Express have put their case forward and convinced the Government they can make the railway work with their forcasts, what else can we do?

So bring everything back in house, let the Government generate all the profits and invest it back into the country.
GNER and National Express cant make money and saw ticket sales fall both before and during a recession - yet DOR increase profits and ticket sales...