HC Deb 18 November 2003 vol 413 cc597-8
2. Mr. John Grogan (Selby):

What plans he has to increase the regulation of bus services. [138854]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Mr. Tony McNulty)

The current statutory framework for bus services is set out in the Transport Act 2000. As with all other legislation, the Government are keeping the position under review.

Mr. Grogan

Since our good friend Ken, Mayor of London, is trusted to set fares, timetables and routes in the capital city, where bus use is increasing, why cannot councillors from the great northern cities of Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle and York be trusted to do the same? Surely the interests of bus passengers must come above those of bus companies, which make a rate of return of 14 per cent. outside London but 6 per cent. in London.

Mr. McNulty

My hon. Friend knows that transport in London has been treated differently from that in the rest of the country since the 1930s. Our key role is to drive up standards and encourage more people to use buses. The key to that under any regulatory framework is a better partnership between operators and local authorities. In many areas, we have creative operators who do a good job with their local authorities under inspired political leadership. Sadly, that is not the case in many areas. We are considering that, and we work with areas constantly.

John Thurso (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross):

Given that bus ridership outside London has fallen by 4 per cent. since 1999, does the Under-Secretary agree with the director general of Nexus, who said: Letting the market decide what the bus network should look like frankly hasn't worked."? Although no one would wish to return to pre-1985 regulation, is not it time to introduce a controlled market to allow for properly integrated transport to deliver the ridership figures that we all want and that the Government promised?

Mr. McNulty

As ever with the Liberal Democrats, the premise is flawed and wrong. Bus patronage has not decreased but increased. Constantly to talk down such a key mode of transport, which opens access to parts of our towns and cities that other forms cannot, is to do a disservice to transport. Bus patronage has increased in Cambridge by 8 per cent., in York by 7 per cent., in Bolton by 4 per cent. and in Leeds and Nottingham by 3 per cent. The picture is not the one of doom and gloom that the dreary Liberal Democrats paint time and again.

Mr. Colin Challen (Morley and Rothwell):

The village of Thorpe in my constituency may not be as large as London, but the bus service is much worse, especially No. 130, which regularly fails to get its passengers on hoard because it does not turn up. I often write to my excellent passenger transport authority about the problem, but it always replies that the bus service is a commercial service and there is little that it can do. When will we tell bus companies that they provide a public service, not simply a private profit-making service for themselves?

Mr. McNulty

My hon. Friend makes a fair point. I confess that I know nothing about the 130 that runs through his constituency, but I recently had a meeting with representatives of all the PTAs and they accepted that there were difficulties. Matters therefore remain under review, and there is much further to go in the existing regulatory framework. Simply reverting to the pre-1985 position is not the answer in the collective opinion of operators and local authorities.