Liverpool follows Manchester in bringing buses back into public control

Liverpool is going to follow Manchester's lead, reverse deregulation of buses, and bring them back under public control, via franchising.

Is this a decisive repudiation of the supposed benefits of allowing profit-maximising, private sector firms to run these public services, or another misstep? Only time will tell - however, I suspect that whoever runs the nation's buses will have to contend with a sunset industry that struggles to make money, largely as a result of the fact that the majority of its customers travel for free, courtesy of their bus passes. And if such a service is unlikely to make a profit, should it be run by the government or should the government be subsidising private sector firms? In both cases, it strikes me that there's little incentive to enhance efficiency.