Policy instruments (2) - Transport Policy and Planning in Great Britain - page 203

13 Policy instruments (2)

The regulation of vehicles, operators
and services

13.1 Introduction
In the previous chapter we saw how governments are able to invest in the nation's
transport systems, either directly or in partnership with private companies, to maintain
and improve their functioning. Major enhancement schemes attract a great deal of
attention because of the scale of the works involved and the visible 'step-change' in
conditions they offer. However the cost of such schemes means that they are relatively
few and far between. The corollary is that the conditions experienced on a day-to-day
basis by the majority of people are the product of past investment and the way it is
currently managed. Concern to achieve more effective utilisation of inherited networks
plus recognition of environmental constraints means that growth in travel demand
has to be responded to increasingly by more extensive and sophisticated management
regimes.
The repertoire of powers available are of four main kinds:

1 regulations governing vehicles, operators and services

2 regulations for the control of traffic and development

3 a variety of fiscal measures - charges, taxes and subsidies - some of which are

linked to the regulatory powers

4 powers to promote change in travel behaviour, primarily through marketing and

the adoption of travel plans.

These topics are the subject of this and the following three chapters.
In this chapter we deal with the regulation of vehicles, operators and services.
'Regulation' refers to legally enforceable conditions required of people engaging in
transport, including households and businesses which run motor vehicles for their own
use as well as firms providing transport services. As we saw in Part 2 this form of State
intervention has a very long history. It is concerned with protecting the public from
unwanted safety and environmental impacts as well as controlling the volume, pattern
or price of transport services where market processes are seen to be deficient in some
way and/or where distributional outcomes need to be safeguarded.
We begin by considering the licensing of motor vehicles, drivers and road transport
operators (13.2) and the overall regulation of transport industries in terms of general
competition legislation (13.3). We then detail the provisions applicable to individual
passenger modes - rail (13.4), bus and coach (13.5), and taxis and other forms of
demand-responsive transport (13.6) - and finally the specific provisions surrounding
community transport (13.7).