A bus ticket from the city centre to Penny Lane costs £2.30. Before routes were deregulated - or privatised - back in 1986, the same journey would have cost around 30p. That's the equivalent of just 93p today.
As the ECHO's Political Editor, Liam Thorp, said this week: "Ever since Margaret Thatcher deregulated bus services outside of London, there has been a free-for-all system in place, where private operators can essentially do as they please and decide what services to run and what fares to charge. It is a system that favours the transport corporations and the rest of us have to deal with what they decide."
That's why Steve Rotheram, the Metro Mayor, wants to bring in a franchising system, where private operators would run services - like Merseyrail - but local leaders would have control over fares, timetables, and routes.
