HC Deb 11 February 1985 vol 73 cc20-2W
Mr. Colin Shepherd

asked the Secretary of State for Transport if he will set out in the Official Report a table showing the total amounts paid to bus operators in respect of revenue support for the financial years 1974–75 and 1984–85, together with the total bus route mileage and passengers carried for each of the years in respect of each of the shire and metropolitan county councils in England.

Mr. David Mitchell

Bus route mileage figures are not readily available. Figures on vehicle kilometres by stage services and passenger journeys on stage services are available on a national basis for calendar years and are given as follows for 1974 and 1983. Figures on revenue support by county councils for public passenger transport services are available for financial years and are given below for 1974–75 and 1983–84, but these include revenue support for rail and ferry services. In the metropolitan areas expenditure on rail and ferry services accounts for some 20 per cent. of the total support; in the shire counties such expenditure is very small.

(millions)
1974 1983
Vehicle kilometres by stage services in GB 2,360 *2,125
Passenger journeys on stage services in GB 7,682 5,550
* The definition of stage carriage services was changed in 1980. As a result a number of services previously classified as express come within the stage definition.

Revenue Support for Public Passenger Transport Services (£ million)
County 1974–75 1983–84
GMC 13.473 49.119
Merseyside 10.827 54.908
South Yorkshire 4.828 60.074
Tyne & Wear 2.382 19.699
West Midlands 10.873 30.226
West Yorkshire 4.679 44.000
Total Mets 47.063 258.027
Avon 0.066 4.553
Bedford 0.034 0.753
Berkshire 0.038 1.287
Buckinghamshire 0.043 1.145
Cambridgeshire 0.010 0.816
Cheshire 0.103 5.044
Cleveland 0.038 6.097
Cornwall 0.026 1.376
Cumbria 0.056 2.110
Derbyshire 0.035 2.775
Devon 0.056 1.316
Dorset 0.007 1.012
Durham 0.233 1.755
East Sussex 0.025 1.720
Essex 0.072 3.137
Gloucestershire 0.042 0.464
Hampshire 0.377 3.331
Hereford and Worcester 0.016 1.076
Hertfordshire 0.154 4.740
Humberside 0.031 0.970
Isle of Wight 0.040 0.267
Kent 0.093 2.724
Lancashire 0.055 7.251
Leicestershire 0.005 1.839
Lincolnshire 0.030 0.411
Norfolk 0.024 0.803
Northamptonshire 0.079 0.400
Northumberland 0.041 0.506
North Yorkshire 0.060 1.476
Nottinghamshire 0.943 1.832
Oxfordshire 0.118 0.239
Shropshire 0.011 0.756
Somerset 0.021 0.495
Staffordshire 0.013 4.147
Suffolk 0.041 0.292
Surrey 0.073 4.118
Warwickshire 0.001 0.411
West Sussex 0.100 1.780
Wiltshire 0.029 0.563
Total Shires 3.240 75.787
Total 50.303 333.814

Mr. Tony Banks

asked the Secretary of State for Transport if he has received a reply in response to his White Paper, "Buses," Cmnd. 9300, from the London Regional Passenger Transport Committee.

Mr. David Mitchell

Yes

Mr. Tony Banks

asked the Secretary of State for Transport how many replies he has received in response to his White Paper, "Buses," Cmnd. 9300, in favour of and how many were against (a) eliminating cross subsidy, (b) reducing subsidy, (c) reorganising the National Bus Company into smaller units, (d) introducing shared taxis without controls, (e) replacing conventional full size bus services with mini bus services, (f) introducing the requirement that authorities seek competitive tenders for contracts to run bus services and (g) abandoning the controls the number of taxis in metropolitan areas.

Mr. David Mitchell

The White Paper did not propose nor does the Transport Bill provide powers for the elimination of cross-subsidy, the reduction of subsidy, the introduction of shared taxis without controls nor the replacement of conventional full size bus services with minibus services. There was a wide range of responses on the NBC, tendering and taxis proposals but the complex and thoughtful nature of many of the responses makes it impossible to place them in to the simple categories of for and against.

Mr. Tony Banks

asked the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how many replies he has received in response to his White Paper, "Buses," Cmnd. 9300, from area transport users consultative committees in areas outside London that might be affected; and how many of these were in favour of reducing the subsidy to bus services and how many were opposed;

(2) how many replies he has received in response to his White Paper, "Buses," Cmnd. 9300, from area transport users consultative committees in areas outside London that might be affected; and how many of these were in favour of deregulating the bus industry and how many were opposed.

Mr. David Mitchell

I have received one response from an area transport users consultative committee broadly in favour of the White Paper proposals. Several area transport users consultative committees have endorsed the response by the joint public transport users group in the six metropolitan counties which was broadly opposed to the policy. The proposals set out in the White Paper are about improving local bus services and getting better value for money, not about changing the level of subsidy available to support the industry.

Mr. Tony Banks

asked the Secretary of State for Transport how many replies received in response to his White Paper, "Buses," Cmnd. 9300, indicated that the proposals would have an adverse effect by causing (a) reduced services in rural areas, (b) loss of a co-ordinated network, (c) higher fares and cuts in services on less well used or costly routes and at less popular times of the day or week and (d) increased congestion and reduced safety.

Mr. David Mitchell

We have received over 8,000 responses many of which contained a mixture of these particular points. The Department has now published a response to the consultation, which addresses these arguments, copies of which have been placed in the Library.

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