Bradford Council bosses were yesterday promised London-style' powers to decide bus routes and fares to end the chaos caused by 20 years of private operators.

Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander unveiled radical changes allowing local councils to seize control of bus services by awarding a contract to a single firm.

Mr Alexander hopes ending the "free-for-all" will reverse a decline in passengers outside London - the only area that escaped deregulation in 1986.

Councillor Stanley King, chairman of Metro, the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority, welcomed the announcement, hoping bus operators would see the report as an "opportunity" to start planning a new start.

He said: "The ability to work with bus operators to agree service frequencies and reasonable fares, simple ticketing schemes, integration between bus and rail, fewer buses on routes where there are too many services and more where services are lacking are all measures Metro would like to see in place.

"It is only through measures such as the long-term planning and partnerships that Mr Alexander envisages in his report that we can we can develop attractive bus services which meet people's needs, end the current decline and start achieving growth across the network."

Bradford North Labour MP Terry Rooney said: "Buses are a lifeline to many in Bradford, but in the 20 years since the Tories deregulated buses we have seen the standard of services fall -as evidenced by the recent threat to the 846 service."

Operators only have to give 56 days' notice before they start services on new routes, change timetables, or axe routes.

As a result, popular routes become congested, while councils fork out expensive subsidies on less-used services - or risk losing them altogether.

Legislation exists to allow town halls and passenger transport executives to impose a "quality contract" by picking a single operator, but no authority has been able to meet the test that says the change must be the "only practicable solution".

Now that test will be removed, allowing authorities to hold a competition to pick an operator - and to bar all others from competing on those routes.

Ministers hope the reforms, due to be published as part of the Road Transport Bill next year, will end the "free-for-all."

The shake-up - which could come into force by 2008 - follows years of complaints about the effects of allowing private firms to decide which services to run.

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