§ Mr. Malcolm MacMillanasked the Minister of Transport what steps he intends to take to assist in maintaining adequate rural bus services in areas where these are being discontinued or seriously reduced because of financial loss or inadequate returns to the operators.
§ Mr. Tom FraserI am continuing the local enquiries which the previous Administration arranged. These were to examine the actual problems in a few selected areas, and to conduct practical experiments to try out remedies for them. I hope they will give pointers to useful future courses of action. Parliament will be asked in due course to vote the necessary funds for some of these experiments in a Supplementary Estimate.
Highland Transport needs are being specifically considered by the Highland Transport Board.
The broad question of rural travel needs will also be taken into account as part of the national and regional transport planning studies which the Government intend to undertake.