In article , Paul Corfield
wrote:
On Tue, 1 Feb 2005 14:05:40 +0000, Michael Bell
wrote:

Stagecoach did an attack on LRT - Lothian Regional Transport, the
Edinburgh publicly-owned bus company. They ran competing services just
before the LRT bus, all sorts of piracy, to try to break and take over
LRT. But they failed. LRT was too big and strong. Stagecoach's attack on
Darlington transport succeeded, they beat it and took it over.
[snip]

Does the regulatory framework allow such piratical attacks on TfL's bus
network?
[snip]

In London it is impossible for there to be competition in the same way
simply because there is no deregulation within Greater London. TfL
control the issuing of licences or more strictly London Service Permits
and London Local Service Agreements which allow for non TfL services to
operate within the TfL area. These mechanisms replace the old concept
of "Section 3/2" services which was the part of the old LRT Act that
permitted "commercial" services within London - typically routes that
run from a bordering county into the TfL area.

The new controls are part of the legal framework that establishes the
London Mayoralty, Greater London Authority and more specifically TfL as
an agency of the Mayor that fulfills his polices in respect of services
that he is responsible for - such as transport.

The nearest that anyone has got to a competitive London network was
Docklands Minibus under dear old Harry Blundred who launched a small
East London network with his familiar Ford Transits. LRT were forced by
Nicholas Ridley to grant a licence after initially refusing one. The
Docklands Minibus network foundered because LRT refused to allow entry
into the Travelcard scheme as this was within their discretion. As
travel is so centred on the Travelcard scheme in London and because cash
fares were higher than the normal London ones the minibuses never gained
sufficient patronage. In the end the routes were withdrawn, Docklands
Minibus won some tendered route contracts and then later sold out to
Stagecoach. There is still a remnant of the operation which concentrates
on private hire / contract business - again based near Silvertown.


This is the answer to the question I was interested in. London's
transport is protected, in the interests of London and the London public.
Other towns exist as profit opportunities for anybody, so PTEs cannot
coordinate transport. Part of the phenomenon that the garden is more
carefully dug in London.

Michael Bell
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