HC Deb 22 July 2002 vol 389 cc743-4W
Mrs. May

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer of 10 July 2002,Official Report, column 976W, on bus services, if he will list those traffic commission areas in which bus compliance officers have surveyed the performance of bus operators in each of the last five years. [71367]

Mr. Jamieson

[holding answer 19 July 2002]: The Vehicle Inspectorate (VI) started its bus monitoring function in 1999–2000. In each of the three years since, VI has undertaken monitoring exercises in each of the eight traffic areas.

Mrs. May

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of households in rural areas were within 13 minutes walk of an hourly or better bus service for the last(a) quarter and (b) year, for which figures are available. [71342]

Mr. Jamieson

[holding answer 19 July 2002]: The proportion of households in rural areas in England within 13 minutes walk of an hourly or better bus service was 42 per cent. for 1998–99. Rural areas are defined here as settlements of less than 3,000 population.

The source is the National Travel Survey and normally three years of data are aggregated because the small number of rural households in the sample means that estimates for single years may not be reliable. The rural sample numbers were exceptionally low for 2000, casting doubts on the validity of using the data for that year within the indicator, so the average for 1998 and 1999 has been used instead of the average for the three years 1998–2000, as previously published. Figures for the average of 1999 and 2001 will be published when the results for 2001 are released on 25 July. Quarterly figures are not available.

Mrs. May

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the powers of bus compliance officers with regards to(a) setting operators' punctuality targets and (b) enforcing operators' punctuality targets. [71346]

Mr. Jamieson

[holding answer 19 July 2002]: Bus Compliance Officers function is to monitor the reliability and punctuality of local bus services registered with the Traffic Commissioners, who can impose penalties on operators who fail to comply with the registered particulars of the service. It is for the Traffic Commissioners to determine the punctuality target. Bus Compliance Officers provide the main source of evidence on which the Traffic Commissioners judge whether the appropriate level of punctuality has been achieved on individual services.