HC Deb 29 April 1981 vol 3 cc781-2
15. Mr. Higgins

asked the Secretary of State for Transport what progress has been made during the last year in reducing peaks in rush hour travel.

Mr. Kenneth Clarke

Only the local authorities and the public transport operators can say what improvements, if any, have been made in rush hour travel. We continue to encourage them to reduce all forms of congestion, and to make it easier for the motorist to contribute through car sharing.

Mr. Higgins

Will the Minister take a new initiative in this area—which has potentially great scope for saving both the energy and the capital investment that is needed in road and rail transport—especially in regard to the staggering of office hours in the public sector?

Mr. Clarke

The Government and the Civil Service now have well-established procedures for staggering hours, and we encourage employers to look at the possibilities wherever possible. Ultimately, individual employers have to decide whether their businesses can adapt to flexible working hours, bearing in mind the costs imposed upon them and the need to keep some core time. Wherever it can be done it makes a valuable contribution to reducing congestion.

Mr. McNally

Is the Minister aware that the biggest single contribution that the Government have made to reducing rush hour travel has been by putting another million people on the dole? Is he aware that Greater Manchester transport attributes an 8 per cent. loss of revenue to this fact? Before the Prime Minister puts another million people on the dole, should not the hon. and learned Gentleman, as a Transport Minister, warn her of those consequences?

Mr. Clarke

To attempt to attribute all of Greater Manchester's transport problems to unemployment would be somewhat misguided. The demand for passenger transport rises and falls from time to time, as demand for other goods and services in the economy varies. The best run services are those which adapt their capacity to demand in the quickest and most flexible way. Enormous costs are involved if one disregards demand in planning public transport, in big cities in particular.