§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what has been the average annual increase in the cost of(a) supersaver, (b) cheap day return and (c) standard single tickets on the national rail network for each year from 1992–93 to 1997–98. [73091]
§ Dr. ReidThis information is not available in the form requested. However, I will write to my hon. Friend about the data that are available.
§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many, and what proportion, of journeys on the InterCity and former InterCity network were made using(a) supersavers and (b) savers in each of the last 10 years. [73106]
§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many(a) family railcards, (b) network cards, (c) forces railcards and (d) all-line rail rovers were issued in each of the last 10 years. [73105]
§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if those rail services provided under the Rail Regulator's Moderation of Competition proposals will be required to accept national interavailable protected fares. [73190]
515W
§ Dr. ReidIn all the access agreements which the Rail Regulator has approved to date, the acceptance of national interavailable protected fares has been a requirement. The Rail Regulator has indicated that he would not expect to approve access rights for new services where he had reason to believe that approval was likely to result in the loss of network benefits. Those benefits include the provision of interavailable tickets. For franchise operators, the obligation to accept interavailable tickets is a condition of their franchise agreement.
§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what instructions he gave to passenger transport authorities in regard to fares levels in connection with the payment of the special rail grant to passenger transport executives. [73094]
§ Dr. ReidNone. Where Passenger Transport Authorities (PTAs) have chosen to retain responsibility for setting fares on the rail services which they support, they are free to raise or lower fares as they wish. However, the amount of grant entitlement will take account of the financial consequences of fares changes which diverge from the national fares cap set by the Franchising Director. Fares in the areas of the two PTAs which have chosen to pass responsibility for setting fares to the train operating companies are subject to the regulated fares cap set in franchise agreements, i.e. RPI-1 from 1 January 1999.