IF deregulation of bus operations more than 15 years ago has delivered a patchwork of services in East Lancashire in which improvements have not always been readily perceived, then perhaps a true turn for the better can at last be seen with the announcement today of a 'fare deal' for passengers.

It comes from Blazefield Holdings, which in April took over Stagecoach's operations in an £8million deal to bring Lancashire United and Burnley and Pendle buses to the roads and expressed its aim to get more people in our region to go by bus.

For having already delivered £5million-worth of new, easy-access buses to its Burnley and Pendle subsidiary, the group now brings improvements to services provided by its Blackburn-based Lancashire United arm.

As a whole, it is a package that, with the introduction of similar modern buses to the company's Blackburn and Clitheroe depots, offers passengers cheaper fares, newer vehicles and more-frequent services.

But is it not just that, as a commercial undertaking, this newcomer to East Lancashire public transport realises the need to provide higher standards to retain custom and attract new passengers -- a move that is demonstrated by the modernisation of a fleet which had an average age of 11 years when it took it over.

Rather, an additional social benefit -- one that deregulation has singularly failed to deliver so far -- is augured by this development: that of getting people out of their cars and on to buses instead and at the same time reducing traffic congestion and pollution. And this will only be realised when public transport is seen as a credible alternative to the car by offering clean, safe, comfortable, cheap, reliable and readily-available services.

It is a departure that will not happen overnight, but the improvements now being brought by this company to East Lancashire's bus services promise to head down that road and, not only that, set competitive standards that other operators will be driven to follow -- all to the advantage of bus users and our environment. It is just the ticket.