Almost, but not quite, a commercial business

Like supermarkets, public transport is a commercial business. Or is it?

Like supermarkets, public transport is a commercial business. Or is it?

ROBERT Jack (New Transit Issue 2) hits the nail on the head when he says “there is a schizophrenia amongst politicians and the industry itself about whether the [passenger transport] sector is a truly commercial marketplace, or still in part a public utility”.

Other sectors do not seem to suffer the same difficulty. Take food retailing – surely a more vital public service than transport. This is a thriving commercial sector, and needs no government support. Indeed, the...