HL Deb 09 March 1965 vol 264 cc12-3

3.2 p.m.

LORD INGLEWOOD

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

[The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many buses are normally running in central London at midday; how this figure compares with the number running pre-war and two years ago; and whether they are satisfied that the services available to-day are adequate to meet Londoners' needs.

LORD LINDGREN

My Lords, I am informed that the scheduled number of buses passing through or terminating in the Central London Area during the midday period 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Mondays to Fridays is now 726 per hour in each direction. This compares with 717 in 1963; in 1938 the comparable figure for buses and trams was 1,229. The London Transport Board consider that the service schedule to-day is adequate for the number of passengers who wish to travel by bus. It is based on regular observations on each route to see how it accords with the demand. It is inclined to be erratic in operation because of staff shortage and traffic congestion.

LORD INGLEWOOD

My Lords, is the Minister not aware that most people will think that Answer far from satisfactory, that the number of buses running in London at midday to-day should be only slightly more than half the number running pre-war, since when the population of London has increased? Is the Minister also not aware that the majority of us in London do not have either private or official cars, and that it is a very poor recommendation for modern Britain that we should have far longer waits at stops for far fewer buses?

LORD LINDGREN

My Lords, I think I can say without exaggeration that there are one or two more private cars on the roads in London now than there were in 1938, and that they tend to create a little congestion. A bus is not a helicopter; it has to follow traffic, not hop over it. In fact, the number of passengers in the last ten years has declined by 36 per cent., while the number of buses in operation has declined by only 17 per cent. Therefore, comparatively, there are more buses available for a fewer number of passengers.

LORD INGLEWOOD

My Lords, may I ask the noble Lord to look at this matter again? And, in being critical, may I say that I do not wish to be any more so than I was of the noble Lord's predecessors who over a number of years answered similar Questions from me equally unsatisfactorily in another place.