Change for the better (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Change for the better

8:56am Friday 10th February 2012 in Readers' letters By Telegraph & Argus

SIR – In his letter on bus services and fares, Ray Wilkes (T&A, February 6) defends the current system which means someone living on a route where two bus companies compete has to pay a higher price to be able to travel on either company’s buses.

Surely passengers should expect such competition to drive fares down and provide them with better value for money rather than resulting in them having to having to pay extra?

Bus operators regard tickets such as MetroCards, which don’t tie passengers to one operator, as a premium product and, through the West Yorkshire Ticketing Company, require passengers to pay a higher price for them.

Metro could, as Mr Wilkes suggests, address part of this problem through tendering but, as he knows, only by using taxpayers’ money to boost further the profits of near near-monopoly operators.

Quality contracts (franchising), which are used successfully in most European cities and London, would replace the current system with a new range of tickets, focused on local areas and without passengers paying a penalty for having a choice.

A recent study by the Competition Commission valued the national cost of the current arrangements as up to £300 million per year, or as much as £25 million across West Yorkshire. Surely Metro is right in wanting a better deal for passengers?

John Henkel, director of passenger services, Metro