Local bus sector referred to Competition Commission.

(From Guardian Unlimited)

The local bus sector is to be investigated over concerns that lack of competition is leading to higher fares for passengers, the Office of Fair Trading announced today.

The OFT is proposing to refer the GBP3.6bn industry to the Competition Commission after a five-month investigation found evidence that the sector was "not working as well as it should".

The watchdog said most routes were operated by only a small number of players and passengers were faced with higher fares in areas where competition was low. There had been "many complaints" alleging predatory behaviour of incumbent firms designed to eliminate competition from new …