What does the future hold for Quality Contracts?
Well, maybe it is unlikely that the Coalition Government will
spend much time grappling with the thorny issue of bus regulation
in its first months in office, but there is a potential storm
brewing.
In many ways the passing of the Local Transport Act 2008 (LTA
2008) represented the first steps towards greater
'localism'. Whilst the then Labour Government preferred
talk of greater local control, the new Coalition government has
already wedded itself firmly to localism and the Big Society - both
shorthand for giving communities more control.
Amongst a raft of measures aimed at strengthening public
transport at a local level, the LTA 2008 aimed 'to give local
authorities the right mix of powers to improve the quality of local
bus services' (the system having been fully de-regulated
outside London in 1986). Whilst the bus remains the most widely
used form of public transport, outside of London its use has been
in
