Rural Transport

HC Deb 07 June 1978 vol 951 cc182-4

12. Mr. Madden

asked the Secretary of State for Transport what progress is being made towards the provision of rural transport.

Mr. Horam

The Government are providing for more than £15 million extra to be spent on public transport in rural areas by the end of the decade, and first indications are that a number of counties are responding well. The Transport Bill will encourage further development of community buses and social car schemes and provide a new framework for planning. Our programme of rural transport experiments is well under way and the first interim report, on the Exe Valley market bus, is expected shortly.

Mr. Madden

Given that the Government are doing a considerable amount to encourage rural transport, will the Department do more to encourage initiatives between local community groups and public transport authorities to improve rural transport facilities, especially in areas such as Hebden Bridge, in my constituency?

Mr. Horam

In the Transport Bill we have relaxed provisions, for example, in respect of car sharing and encouraging communities to set up their own minibus services, which should help in that direction. We shall be implementing these schemes and following them up with further publicity that will bring to the attention of local community groups what is possible under the Bill.

Mr. Marten

Will the traffic commissioners be able to grant to parish councils the right to run minibuses between villages to link up with trunk routes run by the nationalised industry?

Mr. Horam

If a parish council, a community group or anybody in the community can justify a case for a minibus service, the commissioners will have the power to grant that right by a speedy procedure.

Mr. MacFarquhar

Will my hon. Friend encourage the various member companies of the National Bus Company to undertake their own experiments and not continue to wait for others to carry out experiments, especially in rural areas, where it is the poor who are being squeezed by rising fares? It often seems that that is happening with no impact upon those who are running the companies.

Mr. Horam

I accept that the National Bus Company, which is by far the largest bus group in Britain, should undertake as many experiments as possible. It has originated a number of experiments but it may be that they have not yet reached Derbyshire. None the less, a great deal of work is being done by the NBC throughout the country and it is participating in some of the Government-sponsored experiments.

Mr. Adley

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that the criticism of the innovative virtues of the National Bus Company that has been mentioned is shared by a number of others? Is he satisfied that not only local authorities but community groups and associations throughout the country are aware of the opportunities that exist under the NBC's community bus scheme? Will he consider inviting the NBC to enlist the active support of hon. Members, most of whom, if not all, are actively in touch with the community leaders in their constituencies? It is clear from my constituency that much of the information that is of interest and use to small rural communities is not known and is not available at that level.

Mr. Horam

The hon. Gentleman is correct. Those on the ground floor, as it were, have not yet caught up with what we are doing in the Transport Bill and with what the National Bus Company is doing in its way. I shall ensure that our plans to publicise these matters as widely as possible are taken seriously.