HC Deb 08 July 1996 vol 281 cc8-9
6. Mr. Corbyn

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the total bus miles travelled in London in 1995; and what is his forecast for 1996. [34687]

Mr. Norris

London Transport Buses' estimate for 1995–96 is 204.4 million bus miles. Its forecast for 1996–97 is 207.6 million bus miles.

Mr. Corbyn

Is the Minister not disappointed that the increase in proposed bus miles between this year and next is so small? Does he accept that it would help to improve bus use in London if bus lanes were strictly enforced, if bus priority measures at major junctions were rapidly improved, if the franchisees running those routes had good quality new buses, and if bus drivers were not under extraordinary pressure to work ever longer hours for ever lower wages? Would not those measures give confidence to bus operators and passengers in London?

Mr. Norris

I am delighted to hear what sounds to me like a broad endorsement of the Government's policy. It is particularly welcome from the hon. Gentleman. I always knew that a closet Tory was lurking deep beneath that unlikely—but charming—exterior.

No, I am not disappointed. On the contrary, I am delighted by what I stress is an increase not just in bus mileage but in passengers. That is a real success for the privatisation of London's buses, because it has occurred since then. The hon. Gentleman is also right about the need to keep the bus priority programme going. He will know that in our transport settlement it is one of the few programmes with increased resources precisely because we consider it important.

The hon. Gentleman is right about enforcement, too. Without that, much of the value of bus lanes will be lost. That is why we are trialling bus lane cameras in the Holloway road, an area that the hon. Gentleman knows extremely well.

On investment in the industry, I invite the hon. Gentleman to compare the record of investment by the largely municipally owned bus companies in 1984 and 1985 with investment in the past two years. He will find that it has risen approximately threefold.

Mr. Brooke

As the most significant handicap to bus travel is its unpredictability, can my hon. Friend, whose championship of transport in London is widely admired, say how many projects will be financed by the £9 million that he is putting into bus development this year?

Mr. Norris

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend, who takes a great interest in such matters. I cannot tell him the precise number of schemes, but the £9 million to be spent this year is accompanied by a further £9 million, which London Transport Buses will spend on bus priority. The benefits of that are being seen in my right hon. Friend's constituency. He is right that if buses are held up by congestion and are, as is so often the case, the victims rather than the cause of that congestion, we shall be unable to get the advantages of better public transport that he and I both want.