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.