ALTERNATIVE TENDERING SYSTEMS AND DEREGULATION IN BRITAIN.

This paper concentrates on one specific aspect of bus deregulation in Britain: the use of competitive tendering systems. Under the framework for deregulation specified in the Transport Act of 1985, operators register those services which they are willing to run commercially (that is, without route-specific subsidy payments). Where local authorities wish to see the resultant gaps in provision filled, they may support services to do so, on the basis that a competitive tendering procedure is followed. It is therefore not necessarily the incumbent area operator who will run the tendered service. The 'Buses' White Paper of 1984 which set out the thinking behind the 1985 Act (Department of Transport, 1984) appeared to envisage such tendered services as largely separate from the main commercial network (low-density routes in rural areas are the obvious example). However, in practice, much commercial registration has been based on time of day and week, rather than entire routes. Even in low-density rural areas, commercial operation is often found for daytime (0800-1800) services on Mondays to Saturdays, while early morning, evening and Sunday services are not run commercially, and if the local authority wishes to fill these gaps, tendered services are required. Operators are also aware of the cost of peak-only operation, and in many cases are unwilling to register additional peak-only journeys catering largely for school travel. These likewise form part of tendered provision: a typical situation is illustrated in Figure 1. Overall, a high level of commercial registration was experienced at deregulation ? about 84 per cent of total bus-kms in local services, a proportion which has varied very