Transport

For the transport sector the message of the White Paper is clear — provision of transport is largely a matter for the private sector. The White Paper emphasises this point in an analysis of transport resource cost and expenditure (see Table 11.1). Public-sector transport accounted for only 10 per cent of total users’ expenditure on transport in 1983 (including international transport provided by UK firms). Users’ expenditure on transport totalled £57 billion pounds in 1983. This concept is derived, by taking the cost of inputs, the resource cost (£52 billion), and adjusting it for both the expenditure taxes paid by consumers (£11 billion) and the subsidies (£6 billion) on transport, whether in cash or in kind (for example ‘free’ provision of roads). This latter item may be regarded as public expenditure on transport. Public-sector transport services account for only 30 per cent of the total public expenditure on transport — £1 billion for British Rail and £0.8 billion for bus, underground and other services. Furthermore, users’ expenditure on British Rail covered only 63 per cent of resource costs and on buses, underground, etc. it covered some 68 per cent. At the other extreme, users’ expenditure on road transport exceeded the cost of the resources used by 10 per cent. This is explained by the fact that users of road transport (excluding buses) paid over 3.5 times more in expenditure taxes than they received in subsidies.