Rural Bus Services (Hansard, 11 May 2004)

§ Lord Davies of Oldham
My Lords, the Government have an excellent record of support for rural bus services. Over the past three years, £240 million has been invested in rural public transport. That programme continues this year with £51 million allocated to local authorities in the rural bus subsidy grant and an estimated expenditure of £20 million under the Rural Bus Challenge. We are encouraging the expansion of demand-responsive and community transport services, which have a significant role to play in rural communities.

§ Baroness Scott of Needham Market
My Lords, I thank the Minister for that reply, but is he aware that large and small bus operators alike are now withdrawing rural bus services at the rate of 30 or 40 per week? Local authorities are simply unable to plug the gap. For example, this year, Kent is spending £6.5 million to subsidise rural buses. Is the noble Lord aware of the comments made by the National Federation of Bus Users which has said that unless rural bus services are taken seriously now, they will simply disappear?

§ Lord Davies of Oldham
My Lords, of course, we take seriously all representations from such a source. But I think that the noble Baroness will recognise that we have made a significant commitment to rural bus services. We intend to sustain that commitment. The Rural Bus Challenge has thrown up a number of very interesting initiatives, not least in the noble Baroness's county of Suffolk, on which we can build. Of course, local authorities are taking greater responsibility through local transport partnerships for planning local services in a more intelligent and helpful way.
It is on that basis that we should look forward to an improvement in the situation and not follow the doomsayers whom the noble Baroness has rather enthusiastically endorsed today.

Lord Berkeley
My Lords, is it not time that the Government looked again at franchising rural bus services in the way that they do in London? As the noble Baroness, Lady Scott, said in her supplementary question, it is very easy for bus operators to withdraw services that they are providing and then expect the local authority to pay them to continue the set-Nice that they were providing for nothing. A franchise system would surely do away with that.

§ Lord Davies of Oldham
My Lords, a franchise system would certainly change that position. Against a background of very significant improvements in recent years, perhaps I may just mention to the House that 48 147 per cent of rural households now have easy access—within a 10-minute walk—to an hourly or better bus service, compared to only 37 per cent in 2000. In rural parishes. 488 per cent of households have access to community transport services, compared to only 21 per cent in 1997. Those are real improvements for our rural communities. I think that we should build on such improvements.

§ Lord Cobbold
My Lords, does the Minister agree that our rural lanes are not designed for large single-decker buses, which, in my experience, often appear to have one, two or three passengers? Is there anything that the Minister can do to encourage rural bus operators to use smaller vehicles?

§ Lord Davies of Oldham
My Lords, certain aspects of the Rural Bus Challenge have thrown up exactly that kind of issue. Smaller and more economic buses that can use the rural roads more effectively, which also have a more economic payload with lower fuel costs because they are smaller, are improving the service. That is happening in a number of areas. We expect to see such initiatives built on.

§ Lord Bradshaw
My Lords, is the Minister aware that since 1997 the cost of running a car has fallen by 4.2 per cent while the cost of using a bus—that is, all buses—has risen by 8.2 per cent. That is a 12 per cent difference. Bearing in mind that, in Cornwall, First Group. and, in Norfolk, the local bus company, are withdrawing bus services on a large scale, is it not time that the Government really woke up to the crisis that is afflicting our rural bus services? These are not minor bus services but the major bus services on which people depend for work and major leisure pursuits.

§ Lord Davies of Oldham
My Lords, we have to look at that question of the shift in comparative costs. In his usual fair manner. the noble Lord would recognise why the costs of certain kinds of transport as opposed to buses look more favourable. That is simply because we seek to pay our bus drivers and, where there are conductors, bus conductors reasonable wages. Of course, the car driver completely discounts the strain and costs of driving a car. So there are certain aspects with regard to those costs that are irremediable as far as the contrast between private and public provision is concerned.
We recognise that for a very large number of people who are dependent on rural bus services, improvement is absolutely critical. That is why it will be necessary to ensure that the improvements that we have seen in recent years are sustained.

§ Lord Roberts of Conwy
My Lords, the noble Lord has indicated progress in that bus services are within closer reach of a greater number of people. Can he give any indication of whether greater use has been made of buses?

§ Lord Davies of Oldham
My Lords, the issue with regard to improved usage of buses is patchy across the 148 country. One place of which we are all aware where the usage has increased very significantly is, of course, London. That has not been matched in any rural area. But there are a number of counties where initiatives have been taken that others can emulate, which show that greater usage of buses can develop.
I think that the House will recognise that rising prosperity and more ready access to cars—simply reflected in the number of cars on our roads with. I might add, their increasing congestion—mean that people who buy cars do not become dependent on buses. That is a historical trend that we have begun. to a certain extent, to level out and to moderate. But none of us would pretend that that is an easy trend to reverse.

§ Baroness Howarth of Breckland
My Lords, one group of users who, because of their vulnerability, find buses difficult are disabled people. When I am travelling around London, there is good access to buses and the Tube. In my rural home in Breckland, I have never seen a bus with a lowering platform. Are the Government looking at the transport needs of disabled people in rural areas? In addition to community transport, they have a right to use ordinary transport.

§ Lord Davies of Oldham
My Lords, the noble Baroness is right that the issue of disabled access and improvement to buses has been more conspicuous in our large cities and with our large vehicles. Norfolk, for instance, has experimented in one area with quite a small bus that has effective disabled access. So the issue is not an impossible one to overcome but it requires some resolution.