North West Geography
Volume 7, Number 2, 2007
Articles are available as individual downloads in PDF (Portable Document Format).
PDF files open in a new window.
You can download Acrobat Reader by clicking the button below and following the instructions:
Abstract
This paper examines whether the system of deregulated bus services operating in Great Britain outside London is able to
deliver the growth in bus usage required by Gateway Cities to underpin their economic development and specified in the
Government’s Ten Year Transport Plan in 2000.
It examines the deregulated bus market at four geographic levels: national, county, district and bus corridor and finds that
market dominance (above 40% market share) and near-monopoly control (above 66.7% market share) by individual bus
companies are more prevalent the more local the geographic scale. Analysis of bus markets at bus corridor level in Greater
Manchester and Merseyside equates closely with the regular travel patterns of most bus passengers. Evidence is produced
to show that at this very local level the deregulated bus system yields little choice and competition and does not generate
the conditions for increasing bus usage in Gateway Cities.