Since the deregulation of bus services on 26 October 1986, the two main bus companies in Aberdeen have operated competing services on two corridors and the report describes the changes which have occurred on the bus routes within the city. A commercially available computer model, busmodel, has been used to estimate the patronage and revenues of the services operated and to investigate how competition has affected the profitability of routes running in the corridors and of the two operators' networks as a whole. The model estimates a decline in the revenue collected per vehicle mile for both operators. Despite the estimated low profitability of some of the new services, additional competition was introduced during the first half of 1987. Later in the year, most of this additional competition was withdrawn but on the two corridors competition continued with the result that at the end of 1987, some 12 per cent more bus hours were operated on Aberdeen city services than before deregulation. (Author/publisher)
Abstract