Lew 1 wrote:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentis...s-deregulation

This article and the report behind it make interesting reading. They seem
to suggest that the London way of franchising bus routes is the clear way
forward.

Owen Jones, as a well-known leftie, is of course in favour of nationalising
everything, so he's actually advocating municipal ownership and operation
of buses, which isn't what we have in London.

TfL controls the routes and fares, but the buses themselves are operated
by, and mainly owned by, private companies, under contract with TfL. The
operators have to compete for contracts, which do change hands from time to
time. That seems to me to be a good combination.