§ 28. Mr. RiddickTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on bus deregulation in West Yorkshire.
§ Mr. FreemanFollowing deregulation, bus mileage in West Yorkshire increased by 7 per cent., with improvements in frequencies, the introduction of minibuses, more operators and a reduction in tender prices.
§ 48. Mr. PatchettTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what information he has on the effects of bus deregulation on reliability and quality of service; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. FreemanThe competition introduced by deregulation encourages operators to provide more reliable and better quality services. As a safeguard, traffic commissioners have powers to place restrictions on an operator's licence for various reasons including failure to operate services as registered and inadequate maintenance arrangements. These powers were exercised for these and other reasons on 150 occasions up to March 1989.