§ Dr. McDonaldasked the Secretary of State for Transport if he will publish in the Official Report the number of passenger miles travelled in (a) Essex and (b) Thurrock borough council area by public transport in 1977, 1979, 1981, 1983 and 1984; and what information he has as to the deficit or surplus per passenger mile on these services.
§ Mr. David MitchellThe information requested is not available for individual boroughs. The stage carriage returns for bus operations submitted by Essex county council contain no information about passenger miles but the following figures have been extracted from the returns.
1977–78 1979–80 1981–82 1983–84 1984–85 Passengers carried (000) 83,777 79,976 76,997 70,150 66,629* Revenue support payments (other than concessionary fares) (£000) 1,209 1,680 2,235 3,121 3,735* Revenue support per passenger carried (pence) 1.4 2.1 2.9 4.4 5.6* * estimate.