It was the kind of announcement we had all been waiting for.
On February 24, Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram laid out radical plans to bring the region's buses back under public control for the first time since the 1980s. This was the kind of policy so many had hoped to see when the devolved city region first elected a Metro Mayor in 2017.
The move, known as franchising, will aim to create a regulated bus network where private operators will run services, but where locally elected and accountable leaders will have control over fares, timetables and routes. It's a plan that is badly needed.
