You may have heard that the Strategic Rail Authority have dropped plans to electrify the railway lines between Hurst Green and Uckfield and between Ashford and Ore.
The decision follows an assessment by consultants Booz Allen, who could not find a case for electrifying either route. One wonders where they were looking. The decision seems to be almost entirely based on the belief that modern diesel trains are as comfortable and economic as their electric counterparts (anyone who has ridden on one of Anglia's class 170s will dispute this). The journey opportunities offered by electrification such as restoration of through services between Uckfield and London and extension of coastway services to Ashford (connecting with Eurostar) doesn't get a mention.
There were similar problems in the bus industry in the late 70s and early 80s. The National Bus Company decided to carry out its infamous Market Analysis Project (MAP) and bus passengers were given questionnaires about their journey. Unfortunately, the one question omitted from the MAP questionnaire was "where do you want to go?" and an opportunity was lost. The rest, as they say, was history. Long standing links such as M&D's 152 (Tunbridge Wells & Hastings via Heathfield) were severed and other services found themselves stopping abruptly at county boundaries. Having inflicted an inadequate network on the rural population, there was a further decline in bus use and so the vicious circle continued.
I'm not a big fan of deregulation - I preferred the old certainties of going to east Kent and getting on an East Kent bus etc. However, the privatised bus industry particularly Stagecoach did restore some of the broken links. For instance, Southdown realised that passengers from Tunbridge Wells might want to go further than Heathfield - Eastbourne seemed to be a likely choice and thus it was so, and still is.
I'm not a big fan of consultants either. It seems that no project can be undertaken these days without a considerable amount of hand holding from consultants. One only has to look at the costs for projects such as re-doubling the railway line between Bicester and Aynho to see that a significant proportion of the money was spent on suits with laptops saying "good idea!".
I do think the pre-MAP National companies were getting a handle on going where passengers wanted to go. Maidstone & District's 1974 timetable is evidence of this and contained a number of innovations, notably joining the Rye - Winchelsea Beach service to the Hastings - Fairlight bus and creating a new through link. I still think single company networks with cross subsidies are the way to go and maybe one day, that will be so as well.
See you at Showbus!