§ Mrs. MayTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what action he has taken to improve the quality of bus services with respect to(a) reliability of service and (b) the quality of information provided at bus stops since the publication of the bus quality indicators bulletin in September. [14546]
§ Mr. ByersThe Government want to see more regular and reliable bus services that will attract increasing numbers of passengers. Since the publication of the most recent bus quality indicators bulletin in September, we have commenced powers under the Transport Act 2000 with regard to statutory Quality Partnerships and Quality Contracts. This means that local authorities now have a wider range of powers at their disposal to help them to take steps to improve local bus services.
The Transport Act 2000 also requires all local transport authorities to develop arrangements for ensuring that appropriate bus passenger information is made available, and enables them to step in to provide proper passenger information, at operators' expense, if existing arrangements are inadequate.
627WWe are continuing to discuss with the bus industry realistic targets for delivering improvements in service reliability, including monitoring the provision of passenger information at bus stops.