La deregolamentazione del servizio autobus in Gran Bretagna dieci anni dopo

Abstract

This research focuses on Great Britain’s experience with deregulation of urban bus transit services. In the first part of this study the market organisation after deregulation is examined. The article discusses the causes that, after ten years of deregulation, permit the author to declare that the "social" market is a competitive and contestable market while the "commercial" market doesn’t present these characteristics. The second part of the article presents the effects of deregulation on producers, Governement and consumers. Service providers’ operating costs fell much more sharply than the opponents of deregulation expected. The British Government emerged as a clear winner, with reduced bus transit subsidies. Real fares and service instability rose for the consumers. As a result patronage fell drastically with deregulation.