The impact of regulatory reform on public transport markets

Throughout the world, the traditional operation of public transport markets evolved to become based on public ownership and control as a result of concerns regarding various forms of market failure and concerns that public transport was a quasi-public good, or more strictly a merit good, which provides the public with a basic level of mobility. Rail too attracted public interest right from the outset, given the death of the politician William Huskisson following the opening ceremony of the Liverpool to Manchester railway in 1830. This chapter outlines the legislation that reformed the local bus industry in the UK in the mid-1980s and the national rail industry in the mid-1990s. It reviews the key trends in these two markets/industries following the reforms and develops quantitative assessments of the success of these reforms. In doing so, the chapter draws heavily on doctoral research undertaken at the University of Southampton and then concludes by examining the policy implications of this work.