Regulated networks are better than wasteful deregulation

摘要

Alan Roome makes some valid comments about public transport in Switzerland and the UK (You Write last month). To answer some of his points, Switzerland is self-sufficient in electricity so, yes, this should make its public transport cheaper to operate than our diesel powered networks. I do not know how much subsidy is required to operate the Bern system but a busy urban system should require little if any subsidy. Set-up and infrastructure costs are probably the biggest drain on resources. Public transport obviously needs to make a profit to cover its costs, but the money should be kept within the operating company and reinvested in the network rather than going to shareholders.