HERALD VIEW

THERE is some debate about whether Baroness Thatcher ever said that a man who, beyond the age of 26 finds himself on a bus, can count himself as a failure.

But there is little doubt that, certainly outside London where the industry is still highly regulated, the bus industry has been the poorer relative of the train.

There is much noise around problems with rail franchises, the quality of the buffet, and that seasonal favourite, leaves on the line.

Yet across the UK, more people commute on the bus than do so by train.

In Scotland, the difference is particularly marked with three times as many people boarding a bus to work than climbing into a carriage.

Both are vastly outnumbered by car drivers.

But the lower public profile and the freer hand for the free market has brought what seems to be a raw deal for bus passengers.

A study by the Institute for Public Policy Research showed that from 1997 to 2010, bus and coach fares rose by 76.1%, rail fares by 66.2% while the hard-pressed motorist we hear so much about faced a 32.5% rise.

But bus users tend to be those with the quietest voices: the young, women, people in lower income groups are far more likely to use buses than older, wealthier men.

There has therefore been a temptation, when times got tough and subsidies declined, to underinvest in bus services, scrap routes and push up fares.

FirstGroup chief executive Tim O’Toole spent a large part of his career on the Underground.

But it seems he now thinks his future is linked to the bus and hopefully that is good news for customers.