On 6/4/21 4:32 pm, TP wrote:
>  Private bus services have typically been more conscious of their

> passengers and looking after the bus (and they are private operators

> in Perth too). So you need a combination of good roads and private

> operation to get the best out of a bus for passengers.

>

Not the two different Sydney suburban private bus operators I grew up
with. Operated route buses that belonged in museums and often driven
like they were trying to drive a race car.  One of my grandparents lived
in a STA bus area and I always recalled how much better condition those
'government' buses were over the 'private' ones back home where we lived.

The 'private' buses route buses only stopped being rolling museums
pieces when the government mandated maximum ages for the active fleet.
Shortly after that the wave of consolidations started to happen.
Presumably the smaller suburban operations just didn't have enough size
to finance required fleet upgrades. Said private operators of my youth
are now part of Transdev South, although I think the coach hire
operation of one of the 'historic' operators is still around as an
independent entity.

Now the Sydney bus operators don't even have to raise finance to buy
buses, they lease significant portions of the route fleet off TfNSW
these days.

Don't think it makes one bit of difference if the bus route operator is
public or private. What makes the difference is the transport department
regulating them.

(And a friend was living in Southampton at the height of the British
experiment in full bus deregulation. It was chaos)