On the buses

However, these are not normal times. For, even though motoring costs continue to outpace a stubbornly high rate of inflation, bus services appear not to be the expected beneficiary of changing transport habits.

Despite families needing to reduce their outgoings, the Government’s figures show that bus usage is falling and that this trend will continue.

There are many reasons for this, not least increases in fuel costs, above-inflation fare rises and a reduction in the subsidies that the Government and town halls can provide.

That said, it would be remiss of Ministers to leave the future of the bus industry to market forces so that only the most profitable routes survive the spending squeeze. In many parts of Yorkshire, bus services have not recovered since the industry was opened up to competition in the mid-1980s. It has become more fragmented when Ministers, at the time, intended local services to prosper.

What Ministers need to provide, amid reports that one in five urban services will be taken off the road by 2014, is a framework for local councils and bus operators. What are acceptable levels of service? How should rural areas be accommodated? And to what extent should loss-making routes be subsidised in the future?

This is not to say that Ministers should determine the fate of every route. This would be both impractical and improper. But they need to accept that the English regions do not enjoy the standard of service that Londoners take for granted on a daily basis, and that their role is to provide a route-map for buses to fulfil their potential.