There is no competition in localized monopolies. The privatization of the UK rail system was a blatant cash grab by
the house of lords.(may not be accurate)The way that I heard it described, the UK divorced ownership of the rail and the companies on it in line with EU rules. Ownership of the rail wasn’t sold off, but operations and maintenance contracts were. Given how tight the operations contracts were written, the only way to compete was cost. It went very poorly.
That Margaret Thatcher didn’t want to privatize anything to do with rail is an indication on how bad an idea it was.
That said, allowing some private operators on public lines isn’t a bad idea as long as the public service is maintained.
The privatization of the UK rail system was a blatant cash grab
Absolutely
by the house of lords.
Er, wat?
Members of the house of lords were the ones buying the rail up at dirt prices.
Source?
Hmm I read the article 5+ years ago and my searches haven’t found it so you should probably take my words with a grain of salt.
Fair enough.
It’s a good move, but we can’t start thinking that this will solve the fare cost problem entirely. The UK has a network problem: everyone and everything goes to London at the same time. That means for every full train going into London, there’s an empty one leaving the city not long after.
That empty train needs the same resources as the full one, so essentially every fare you pay must cover the cost of two trips. The process of spreading destinations around the country is a lot of work and very expensive: new lines, tax incentives, etc.
Don’t people return home eventually? I mean if they didn’t, London would just fill up and eventually burst, and I don’t mean over decades but over weeks. Commuters obviously go there in the morning and return at night, where the empty train problem exists in both cases (just reversed direction). But any other visitor I’d assume comes and goes at less precisely scheduled times?
This is possibly one of greatest things I’ve heard come out of UK politics in years tbh. Hope they are able to make the changes tbh cuz the tories have fucked up so much after 14 years.
Oh no, won’t people think of the corporations and their drive to make a profit by cutting service and making it difficult!?
Thank fuck.
Most people in the UK don’t even consider taking a train because they’re so bad.
I did not expect the New Labour neoliberals would do this and am pleasantly surprised.
