Office of Fair Trading proposes referral of local bus services to the Competition Commission

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has published its market study into the supply of local bus services and proposes to refer this business sector to the Competition Commission for a more detailed investigation. The OFT found evidence during a five month investigation that limited competition may be leading to higher fares for bus users. The OFT market study identified four main issues in the local bus markets which prevented, restricted or distorted competition:-

- the majority of local routes are operated by a small number of large bus companies
- higher fares in those geographical areas where operators with a strong market position are not challenged by a large, well-resourced rival
- need to eliminate competition from new entrants
- low number of bids for services contracted by local authorities in many areas, with just one bidder for twenty-five per cent of tenders

The OFT is seeking comments by Thursday 15 October 2009 on the provisional decision to refer the supply of local bus services to the Competition Commission.

The demise of paper travel tickets?

The Department for Transport (DfT) has launched a consultation on integrated and ‘smart’ ticketing for public transport – the consultation document sets out a vision of the implementation of a smart ticketing infrastructure, using the Government backed ITSO specification, to permit seamless travel throughout Britain using different modes of public transport. Some of the more innovative proposals could see electronic tickets or pre-pay credit loaded straight on to a mobile phone or the use of ordinary bank cards to pay instantaneously for travel. The DfT estimates that the benefits of a universal ‘smart’ ticketing system could amount to two billion pounds a year through improved journey times, and faster and more convenient and reliable purchasing and use of tickets.

Regulated rail fares to fall

Regulated rail fares will fall by 0.4 per cent in January 2010. Train operators in the South West of England can only change fares by the Retail Price Inflation index (RPI) plus one per cent – as the July 2009 RPI was minus 1.4 per cent, regulated rail fares have to reduce by 0.4 per cent in January next year. The Department for Transport (DfT) has also removed the flexibility of train operators to increase regulated fares by up to five per cent more than the limit, provided that the average rise did not exceed the stipulated amount.

Wilts and Dorset public inquiry

A public inquiry into maintenance standards at Wilts and Dorset bus company has been held in Bournemouth by the Traffic Commissioner for the Western Traffic Area, Sarah Bell, who decided that the maximum number of buses operated by the company should be reduced from three hundred and thirty vehicles to three hundred – Wilts and Dorset currently has two hundred and ninety-six buses to meet a peak vehicle requirement of two hundred and seventy.

Recycling centre for Westbury

Network Rail is proposing to open a new recycling centre at Westbury next year to recycle ballast, track and sleepers – the new centre is required, because of a lack of capacity at the existing facility at Eastleigh, Hampshire.

Opposition to new hotel at Cheltenham station

A planning consultant, employed by Cheltenham borough council, to consider an application to build a new eighty-bedroom hotel near the railway station, has recommended rejection of the proposal – the new hotel would have no car parking spaces and the developers were planning that hotel guests and staff would use the already-congested station car park.

And finally,

The Department for Transport (DfT) has published a list of the ten most over-crowded trains operating to and from London termini during the peak periods during Autumn 2008 – in ninth position is the 0630hrs Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington high speed service operated by First Great Western which carried an average of five hundred and ninety-four passengers in a train with just three hundred and ninety-five seats!