Business does things better than government, right? Right?

From the letters section of today's Guardian, two snippets showing the negative effects of deregulation on the transport industry. The more I hear of dereg, the more I suspect it was part of a policy of destroying certain supportive aspects of society. And society, after all, was something that didn't exist, according to Lady Thatcher.

Bus use in Britain is rising thanks to Ken Livingstone's improvements to services in London (Britain catches on to the bus, April 27). More people are taking buses in London than at any time since the 1960s. Outside London, bus use continues to decline. It is disingenuous for the Confederation of Passenger Transport to cite a few exceptions as if they were the general rule. Livingstone has been able to improve bus services because he can regulate routes, timetables, fares and service quality. Outside London, none of this is possible, because bus services have been deregulated.

The government could enable transport authorities outside London to regulate bus services using powers for "quality contracts" under the Transport Act 2000. It is consulting on how to speed up their implementation.
Tony Grayling
Associate Director, Institute for Public Policy Research

Catching on to the bus system of transport is not the difficulty, it is actually catching one on time and being able to rely on that happening that is the problem. If people could be reasonably sure that the bus will be on time, then more would use them. They would then be a more attractive option for local journeys than finding somewhere to park and pay the growing fees.

There should be a process where the local passenger transport executive can ensure that bus companies keep to their contracts.
Alan Pearman
Rotherham