Er. No!
1. The competing bus services are commercial ie. the only "subsidy" is to Concessionary passengers, who in most cases here in GM would qualify for the same Concessions on Rail/Metrolink - except that most can't reach rail modes without a car! Further, those full fare paying passengers are paying (via the bus companies) VED, Fuel Tax, Tax on profits and Facility charges at bus stations.
2. If you combine the policy of rail being used to abstract from buses instead of from private transport with the crazy economics of all road based transport (outside Gtr. London), then it can ultimately only result in increased car ownership*, exponential increase in car usage and increases in socio-economic exclusion for those that cannot drive (or walk long distances regularly) for reasons of health and/or wealth.
You are right in that the Deregulation experiment has failed, but that doesn't excuse "collateral", civilian casualties.
Like the vast majority of non motorists, I had virtually no experience of local rail until relatively late in life, so I don't know how commuter fares compared with buses before the last decade or so. The presumption was that historically, rail fares were higher than bus fares on competing short runs (eg. 5 miles or less), even off-peak. On some lines into Manchester (and Leeds?) they were considerably lower by the early 2010s, and even with "preposterous" increases, off-peak fares remain lower into 2018. The table above detailing annual fare increases doesn't come anywhere near the present day, so I can't calculate how much Rail fares have increased since 1986/7, but single fares in GM (except where there is bus v bus competition) have increased exactly ten fold journeys under 2.5 miles. I believe Inflation over that period has been about 270% and car fuel costs have increased fractionally below general inflation, though insurance and other *fixed* costs might have increased much more.
