Reality check - Bus strike threatened

PUBLIC transport has, despite a substantial annual taxpayer subsidy, never managed to break even in this country.

This does not make it in any way unique, after all it is as much a social service as a transport service. Efforts to manage costs and streamline services are ongoing, some services have been axed and communities left without long- established links.

A bus strike is threatened for Friday, May 1, because workers are apprehensive about the prospect of 10% of bus services being privatised. They believe, probably correctly, that terms in a private company would be far less attractive than those they enjoy right now. Whether they might even be employed in any new company is an open question.

One of the reasons public transport struggles is that it is so underused. Maybe it’s time public bus and train companies made a greater effort to make their serives more attractive and user friendly. If they don’t then the 10% figure may just be an opening gambit. That would not happen in an ideal world but it seems to be the reality for so many workers.