Bus services in Tyne and Wear are to be controlled by the council as
Councillors have backed plans for regulated services under the Quality
Contracts Scheme.
In a move which could signal the biggest changes to the way buses operate across the region since de-regulation in the 1980s, members of the North East Combined Authority (neca) have today agreed to submit proposals for the introduction of a Quality Contracts Scheme (QCS) for consideration by a special independent panel.
The north east is the first part of the country to reach this stage in developing a Quality Contracts Scheme under legislation introduced in 2000. The new scheme would see bus companies contracted to provide routes by Nexus on behalf of the North East Combined Authority, rather than the bus operators deciding which services to run on the basis of market forces.
