bus war

From bus +‎ war.

bus war (plural bus wars)

1. A strategy of scheduling very large numbers of buses on a route in order to swamp competition from other bus operators.
   • 1988, Bargaining Report:

     Public Transport Information Unit report that it is passengers who suffer most in this bus war.

   • 2007, Alan Griffiths, Stuart Wall, Applied Economics, Pearson Education, →ISBN, page 234:

     According to the government's White Paper on the Future of Transport 1998 bus deregulations outside London caused substantial upheaval because of 'bus wars' and confusion over changing service patterns.

   • 2012 September 13, Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Transport Committee, Competition in the Local Bus Market: Third Report of Session 2012-13, Vol. 1: Report, Together with Formal Minutes, Oral and Written Evidence, The Stationery Office, →ISBN, page 36:

     We are not convinced, however, that the Competition Commission's vision of widespread and sustained head-to-head competition is realistic or desirable. Previous bus wars led to instability and confusion that was in the interests of neither operators nor passengers.