Auckland Regional Transport Authority has just announced that bus fares will rise again in the New Year. I comment elsewhere that these rises may be counter-productive. They also show what happens when bus companies do not compete in the market. In New Zealand, most of the competition is for the market - not in the market. What this means is that companies compete for the right to run services. There is almost no competition for passengers once services are running. This means that there is little incentive to reduce prices for passengers. Price rises ahead of inflation several years running do not indicate healthy competition!