§ 108. Mr. Goochasked the Minister of Transport how many applications have been received for each of the last three years, by each licensing authority, for 173W the reduction of omnibus services in rural districts; how many were allowed; how many services were cancelled; what was the number of new services authorised; and if he will indicate in each case the distribution between
Traffic Area Number of Service Withdrawn Number of Services Reduced Number of New Services 1957–8 1958–9 1957–8 1958–9 1957–8 1958–9 Northern … … 1 3 2 9 nil 1 Yorkshire … … 5 1 54 nil 5 3 North Western … … 22 36 30 5 4 nil West Midland … … 8 3 35 26 3 2 East Midland … … 16 14 22 44 2 1 Eastern … … 5 4 10 12 8 7 South Wales … … 11 6 19 15 7 2 Western … … 10 14 nil 23 2 5 South Eastern … … 7 7 101 68 12 12 Metropolitan … … 3 6 9 61 1 2 Scottish … … 8 7 2 2 20 24 Total … … 96 101 284 265 64 59 1. There are no figures readily available of services for 1956–57. 2. Where services were withdrawn, most of the routes were wholly or substantially covered by other services. The figures of new services include replacements for other services withdrawn, and services designed to meet special needs (e.g. for schoolchildren, hospitals or as substitutes for closed branch railway lines). There are no figures readily available of numbers of applications to reduce bus services in rural areas.