TRANSPORT chiefs in Southampton will be given London-style powers to set bus routes and fares, Labour has vowed today.

The deregulation “free-for-all” will be ended, the party's conference was told - to bring order to the private bus firms.

The private bus giants stand accused of axing vital routes with little notice, or of demanding rising local council subsidy to keep them running.

Under the plans people in urban areas would enjoy smart and set tickets seen in London, while councils could prevent firms restricting services to routes without good reason.

Mary Creagh, Labour's transport spokeswoman, told the Daily Echo: “Speaking to local leaders, the one thing they say they want above all others is London-style powers over buses.

“The current process - of quality contracts - is long and full of financial and legal risk, so we are going to make that process simpler.”

Ms Creagh's pledge comes just days after Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg made a similar pledge to give transport authorities outside London the same powers over buses.

During 13 years in power, Labour refused to reverse the 1986 deregulation, but senior figures later admitted such caution had been a major blunder.

Ms Creagh added: “Outside London, bus fares have gone up by 25 per cent over the last four years and passenger numbers are down.

“Two-thirds of all journeys on public transport are on buses, yet services are being scrapped and communities left isolated. The system is not working.”

However bus bosses in Southampton warned the proposals would drive up costs for passengers.

Two of the city's largest firms fear giving council's greater leverage to control prices will lead to investment being choked off by bureaucracy.

Andrew Wickham, managing director for Bluestar, said: “Recent cuts to our services have almost entirely been driven by local councils reducing funding for the services they support - due to funding cuts from central government. Our commercial services have not been affected by this and they continue to grow. We don't think a change in the way buses are organised would give any benefit to users, but could end up increasing the call on scarce public funding.”

A spokeswoman for First also opposed the move and said: “Quality Contracts will inevitably threaten investment, innovation and incur greater bureaucracy costs that will certainly be borne by either the customer through the fares box or by the taxpayer.

“The private sector brings innovation and investment that a more regulated system simply could not match."

Southampton Conservative group transport spokesman Cllr Daniel Fitzhenry denied councils should get more powers but should make better use of money being provided to them by the coalition to make public transport more attractive to residents.

He said: “We are not going to go back to local council's running public services that were inefficient.

“Our job is to get people cycling, walking and using public transport.”