By Laura Foster, who is studying for a BA (Hons) in media and English at Trinity and All Saints College, Horsforth

Today's news is yesterday's fish and chip wrappings. Unfortunately controversy over the current state of public transport won't go away as easily.

It seems that the system of privatisation has failed in the most embarrassing and frustrating sense.

It is interesting, yet laughably ironic that Stephen Byers, the Transport Secretary, has issued "four yardsticks" for government records in judging railways. Just in time for the next election.

The foremost guideline is punctuality, something those who have waited over an hour for trains, especially on wet, dark evenings in the rush hour, will welcome.

At deserted stations the only consolation is an eerie, Teletubby voice informing the commuter the train is delayed, by 20 minutes, 30 minutes etc, etc. No hints of an explanation, never mind an apology.

In conjunction with punctuality is reliability of the service, currently facing one major obstacle - strikes.

The average salary for an Arriva driver is £20-24,000. It is questionable whether this is justified for a job which requires braking and accelerating in a straight line.

However, the industry is fragmented, and although Arriva has agreed an 18 per cent salary increase for drivers, the conductors have been offered only 3 per cent.

This means that further strikes are likely, bringing more disruption.

The bright contingency plan for buses to replace train services to cover gaps in the "revised" timetable has not worked.

In the sense that there are supposed to be more reliable services, the normal Metro lines have been compromised.

To add insult, Metro offered 7 per cent discount off its travel permits, but the hypocrisy of the system was then highlighted when Metro suggested that the price should rise by 2.5 per cent!

Mr Byers also named safety as an area for improvement - that, rather worryingly, seems to have been pushed to the back of some people's minds, despite tragedies such as the Hatfield crash.

Problems with the track cannot be easily rectified, as maintenance is impossible to carry out with more demand for trains.

Investment has, however, been ploughed into another venture. Customers of Arriva Northern Trains be reassured: last year money was distributed to pay for "facelifts" for the trains, questioning the priorities of the company.

Yes, it might look nice but what about the service?

It is interesting that the absence of any mention of affordability or overcrowding proves to be more conspicuous.

Where are the Government's ethics on running public transport under privatisation, a system that forsakes quality over profit? Hiding behind the smokescreen of free trade.

The customers' priorities inevitably lose out to the priorities of the shareholders.

David Blunkett rebuked the system as "19th century" infrastructure but Tony Blair has faith that the public can be won over, even if this is a nave judgement: "People can be persuaded to pay for good public services."

Yet, in order to shake the apathy and the disillusionment of the public, a radical solution is desperately needed - unless we are to give up altogether and allow the public to decide to take the car.

It doesn't matter if the answer comes from a public owned system or privatisation, or, according to Tony Blair, the rise of National Insurance Tax.

The question is, will it be Labour or the Conservatives who provide it? The lack of Government propensity needs to be addressed. An interest has to be taken and so, yes, today is a good day to put out bad news.