COMPETING FOR MAJOR PRIZES

摘要

Whatever the office of fair Trading and the Competition Commission may think, competition is alive and well in the British bus industry outside London. It may not be on the scale envisaged by the Thatcher government when local bus services were deregulated in 1986, but it still adds interest to the bus scene in many parts of the country.rnDuring 2009 the big groups clashed in northeast England and Yorkshire, while smaller companies challenged existing operations in Cardiff, Nottingham and Sussex.rnArriva North East launched its Northumbria Express between Ashington and Newcastle to challenge Go North East's Bargain Express service, while Go North East increased the frequency on its Newcastle-Middlesbrough X9 in competition with Arriva's X1.