Re-regulating transport for the public good

THE problems highlighted by Richard Atkins (‘Priced out of college for transport costs’, The Yorkshire Post, November 27) have been with us for some time.

Five years ago, the council here in Barnsley took the bold step of making transport free for 16 to 18-year-olds in the borough – not least on account of young people saying that transport costs were number one on their list of concerns.

The scheme was hugely successful but sadly has had to be cut back in recent times on account of the Government’s continued squeeze on the council’s finances.

All of this comes about, of course, on account of the mad way we run public transport in this country whereby super rich operators are allowed to run services on a profit-driven basis.

At last, after many years of dithering, the Labour Party has come up with the magic words “re-regulation” whereby a Labour government would allow local authorities to once again have some control over how the major operators run services and what they charge.

To my mind this should be a major issue in the forthcoming general election – if it doesn’t succeed then the future public transport prospects for students and many others are bleak indeed.