I suppose the point is they can shop somewhere else. Take watching the tv for example. I can hop from RTE to TV3 to BBC as much as I like with an arial on the back of my tv. If I want to get Sky and Sky Sports, then I have to pay more but the choice is mine. However, in all cases I still have to subsidise RTE via a licence fee - no choice about that. Same goes if I want a passport..no choice on the provider. Apologies if I've steered this off topic.
There are examples of public services where there is no choice, I stated that. Motor tax, passports, few others I can't recall now. But then I only need a passport every ten years and to be honest, on that point I never leave it to the last minute before getting a replacement. Motor tax I can do in a few seconds online and it's sorted.
But where you talk about choice, it isn't really comparing like with like. The TV one is different to just flicking channels. If you don't like the programming on the standard 4 then unless you can pay for Sky, UPC, or setting up freeview then you're stuck with them.
The point is, the principles of a free market are great and mean competition, choice, better standards etc, but this is rarely the true case. Either we have very limited competition and choice (as we do or at least have had for a long time) or if you want a better service you have to dip into your pocket.
Granted, the private sector is able to turn around quicker in a recession. It's able to shed costs and to change operations. But let's be honest, in many cases it took the recession to bring on that change, for years we were ripped off paying for the excesses of the private sector in what we had to buy. In a lot of cases there was no competition because the good ol' boys in some cases had price fixing, or the state allows a fixed number of service providers and we can't shop around, or we were just charged more by everyone because we had more money.
The notion of competition in this country seemed to involve matching the prices of the highest charger rather than looking for a better service.