I am in the course of finalising my consideration of proposals for the liberalisation of the bus passenger industry and I expect to be in a position to submit detailed proposals to the Government shortly.
One of the major objectives of my proposals will be to improve the levels and quality of bus services available to the general public and to introduce competition in the bus industry on a sensible and orderly basis. The issues involved are complex and I have been consulting extensively with interested parties, in order to secure the maximum level of agreement in relation to the future development of competition within the industry.
I expect that Government will consider the matter within the next few weeks.