Policy instruments (2) - Transport Policy and Planning in Great Britain - page 210

requirements in respect of regulated fares (15.5), through ticketing and inter-operator
ticketing availability on shared routes.
Within the overarching framework of regulation the consequences of the
fragmentation introduced to bring about competition within the rail industry remain
profound. Unlike the situation in the bus industry (where an operator is essentially a
free agent able to deploy vehicles and run services as he thinks best) no train service
can run without the agreement of at least three parties (the operator, Network Rail and
the Rail Regulator). If there are implications for franchised services then the assent of
relevant funding bodies will also be required. A change in service pattern involving
the deployment of new or reassigned stock or alterations to track or signalling is likely
to require the additional involvement of train leasing companies and other train
operators. Every change has to be formalised in contracts between all the parties, and
since every organisation has a sectional interest to protect, progress can be extremely
slow and difficult.
Arrangements for the issuing of franchises have undergone a roller-coaster ride
during their relatively short period of existence. Most of the franchises issued at the
time of privatisation were for about seven years. However in the aftermath of the
Hatfield crash a holding operation had to be mounted with the initial franchises
extended by a year or two operating on a 'cost-plus' basis set by the SRA.
Even before Hatfield, concern had been growing about capacity and reliability on
the network. The limited prospects for infrastructure enhancement meant that it was
essential to put existing capacity to best use. Far from the original vision of a free-
for-all of operators competing for track paths, the way forward was seen to lie instead
in detailed planning and service delivery under a unified operating regime wherever
practicable. A series of 'route utilisation studies' were undertaken by the SRA and
their results used as the basis of the service specifications set for the second round of
franchises.
The revised pattern to emerge from the protracted second round of franchises is
shown in Table 13.1. Further details on the financial aspects of rail franchising are
given in section 15.5, whilst changes arising from the 2005 Railways Act are reported
in section 23.5.
13.5 Regulation of bus and coach services
The deregulation of bus and coach services
Long-distance coaches were exempted from the requirement to obtain road service
licences under the 1980 Transport Act and regulation of fares on bus services was
removed at the same time. Other than these and some very minor experiments in
liberalisation within 'trial areas' there was no experience on which to base the wholesale
deregulation of bus services. This was introduced under the 1985 Transport Act with
'D-day' itself occurring in October 1986. Both the principle of deregulation and the
sweeping manner in which it was introduced were highly controversial. Although the
moribund state of much of the publicly owned bus industry and its attendant operating
inefficiencies invited reform, the scale and nature of the changes threatened to throw
the baby out with the bath water.
The Act applied to all 'local bus services' outside London, defined as services
carrying passengers at separate fares between stops less than 15 miles apart. Operators
were merely required to 'register' with the Area Traffic Commissioner the route and