Think of Russia's bus system: you are probably imagining a rusty, cash-starved and overcrowded service.

That was certainly the perception of a group of transport experts from Hampshire who were sent to advise bus operators there about privatisation and best practice.

The European Union had asked them to share their expertise.

The Hampshire experts thought the visit would be a teaching process, but they found plenty to learn from the state-controlled Russian system.

Back in Nizhny Novgorod

The town of Nizhny Novgorod is seven-hours east of Moscow.

Privatisation there is in its infancy. There are three thousand state-run buses and one thousand five hundred private ones.

Some 70% of passengers are entitled to free travel, which causes financial problems for the service.

The buses are old and battered, and patched up.

Broken metal is welded back into place. If a bus catches fire, and they frequently do, a little water is poured over to dampen the flames.

"Everybody is disturbing your private space," says Katya

In working order

But their system does work. Though there are twice as many people working on the buses in Nizhny than in Britain.

"The buses are overcrowded during rush hours, everybody is disturbing your private space," says student and bus passenger Katya Solovyova.

"There are too many people, so it's not comfortable. But there's no other way because there is a big demand for public transport here."

Helping out

Tony Brown of Hampshire County Council reckons he and his colleagues can teach their Russian counterparts many lessons:

"Everything from reforming their fare structures, right through to how public transport should figure in the broader development plans for the city."

Winchester bus depot is hardly the cutting edge of world transport systems.

But to Nizhny Novgorod's officials, visiting the town recently, it is world's apart from what they are used to.

A world apart

Georgiy Korchajkin the Director of Nizhny's regional bus company employs 14,000 workers on state controlled buses.

He's impressed with Winchester's buses but not with the system that controls them: "Making profit and increasing quality of service- these are two different things and it's very difficult to bring them together.

Georgiy Korchajkin: "Sometimes better profit results in poor quality service."

"Sometimes better profit results in poor quality service," he adds.

With Britain's fragmented bus service many people here would agree with him.

Where's the customers?

The Russian visitors find Park and Ride a novel idea.

And there's something else they don't recognise, empty seats.

On a ride on one of Winchester's buses, Georgiy is surprised to see just eight passengers.

At peak times in Nizhny the same bus would be stuffed with more than 100 passengers!

Back in Russia, Nizhny Novgorod has just celebrated its annual pageant.

Moving the masses

Two hundred thousand people took to the streets to celebrate.

But within an hour of the party ending, the city's state-run bus service had whisked them all home.

True, people were packed into buses like sardines in a tin.

And the vehicles are old and crumbling.

But against all odds, their system works on a scale that in Britain we struggle to match.

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Student Guide

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The buses of Nizhny Novgorod run on time and are usually packed but they are old and shabby.

The buses of Winchester are up to date and mostly run on time but they are hardly ever full. Why the difference?

What does profit do?

Profit provides a challenge for most businesses.

It drives them to be efficient, to be innovative and to try to stay ahead of the game.

If there's lots of competition, a business really has to work hard to maintain its lead.

Customers often win because new products come onto the market and prices are very competitive.

But markets never stand still.

On the move

In the UK buses were run by local authorities for many years.

Then they were privatised so they were run by companies.

When this first happened, there was lots of bad behaviour.

In some places several companies were in competition.

Poor practice

Each one wanted to get he most business.

They raced each other to bus stops to pick up the waiting queue and even turned round when they saw a queue on the other side of the road!

Companies undercut fares to put other providers out of business and often got the result they were seeking.

Eventually it settled down with a small number of companies providing bus services in each area.

Just think

What are the buses like where you live? Is there any competition? Are they cheap or expensive?

Do they run on time? Are they in good condition? Are they crowded?

Can you explain why you have answered yes or no to any of these questions?

How does competition affect other products that you buy?

Are there several pizza companies where you live?

How do they compete? Can you think of any other products that are affected by competition?

But what's the downside?

The drive to make a profit sometimes pushes businesses a step too far.

Making profit means keeping costs low.

Controlling pollution costs money and doesn't add to profits so businesses may not bother.

Health and safety precautions can be expensive so businesses may not put them in place unless they are required to do so.

The government often has step in to make businesses do unprofitable things.

Just think

Think of any examples of businesses cutting corners.

Why do you think it happened?

Did customers or staff suffer as a result?

Keeping competition under control

Most of our public services are run by companies which aim to make a profit.

They often have very little competition so may put profit before the customers.

In order to keep them under control, the government has set up regulators to oversee their work.

Oftel, for example, watches over the telephone market.

Keeping an eye out

The regulators often set limits on price increases and targets for the market.

Sometimes the targets backfire.

Trains that used to wait for connections - which helped the customers to reach their destination - now don't, because they might be late.

Train companies have targets for arriving on time, so if they wait, the train will be late and the company won't hit it's target!

Just think...

What public services do you use?

How efficient is it?

Find out about its regulator - the Internet can help. What sort of targets does it set?

Another world

The people of Nizhny Novgorod have little alternative to their bus service.

Owning a car is something of a dream. Only 20% of travellers own a car.

They have to be at work on time.

Unemployment is high so if you're not there, there is always someone to take your place.

Getting on the bus is not a choice.

But remember, most of them have free passes so they don't really help to keep the buses on the road.

The state has made the decision to keep the buses running - and pay for them.

The state once ran the buses here - but they rarely ran on time.

Just think...

What do you think it takes to make an organisation work efficiently and meet the wants and needs of the customers?