Maybe competition is a good thing

In September I wrote a blog entry about competiton. A new bus service started between Loughton and Waltham Abbey, running a few minutes before the established one and charging less.

My main concern was that competition made lead to the regulated service being withdrawn and then prices will rise whilst the quality of service would be fall. I have since found out that the service I use, run by Arriva Buses, in fact are not regulated.

Well this week Arriva is fighting back with new ticket prices, with a range of weekly and monthly tickets that works out to be less than a 5 x single fares.

So competition does seem to be making things better for the consumer, although spreading the services throughout the day more evenly and making tickets transferable between the services would also be welcome.