§ Mr. Colin Shepherdasked the Secretary of State for Transport if he will set out in the Official Report a table showing the total amounts paid to bus operators in respect of revenue support for the financial years 1974–75 and 1984–85, together with the total bus route mileage and passengers carried for each of the years in respect of each of the shire and metropolitan county councils in England.
§ Mr. David MitchellBus route mileage figures are not readily available. Figures on vehicle kilometres by stage services and passenger journeys on stage services are available on a national basis for calendar years and are given as follows for 1974 and 1983. Figures on revenue support by county councils for public passenger transport 21W services are available for financial years and are given below for 1974–75 and 1983–84, but these include revenue support for rail and ferry services. In the metropolitan areas expenditure on rail and ferry services accounts for some 20 per cent. of the total support; in the shire counties such expenditure is very small.
(millions) 1974 1983 Vehicle kilometres by stage services in GB 2,360 *2,125 Passenger journeys on stage services in GB 7,682 5,550 * The definition of stage carriage services was changed in 1980. As a result a number of services previously classified as express come within the stage definition.
Revenue Support for Public Passenger Transport Services (£ million) County 1974–75 1983–84 GMC 13.473 49.119 Merseyside 10.827 54.908 South Yorkshire 4.828 60.074 Tyne & Wear 2.382 19.699 West Midlands 10.873 30.226 West Yorkshire 4.679 44.000 Total Mets 47.063 258.027 Avon 0.066 4.553 Bedford 0.034 0.753 Berkshire 0.038 1.287 Buckinghamshire 0.043 1.145 Cambridgeshire 0.010 0.816 Cheshire 0.103 5.044 Cleveland 0.038 6.097 Cornwall 0.026 1.376 Cumbria 0.056 2.110 Derbyshire 0.035 2.775 Devon 0.056 1.316 Dorset 0.007 1.012 Durham 0.233 1.755 East Sussex 0.025 1.720 Essex 0.072 3.137 Gloucestershire 0.042 0.464 Hampshire 0.377 3.331 Hereford and Worcester 0.016 1.076 Hertfordshire 0.154 4.740 Humberside 0.031 0.970 Isle of Wight 0.040 0.267 Kent 0.093 2.724 Lancashire 0.055 7.251 Leicestershire 0.005 1.839 Lincolnshire 0.030 0.411 Norfolk 0.024 0.803 Northamptonshire 0.079 0.400 Northumberland 0.041 0.506 North Yorkshire 0.060 1.476 Nottinghamshire 0.943 1.832 Oxfordshire 0.118 0.239 Shropshire 0.011 0.756 Somerset 0.021 0.495 Staffordshire 0.013 4.147 Suffolk 0.041 0.292 Surrey 0.073 4.118 Warwickshire 0.001 0.411 West Sussex 0.100 1.780 Wiltshire 0.029 0.563 Total Shires 3.240 75.787 Total 50.303 333.814
§ Mr. Tony Banksasked the Secretary of State for Transport if he has received a reply in response to his White Paper, "Buses," Cmnd. 9300, from the London Regional Passenger Transport Committee.
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§ Mr. David MitchellYes
§ Mr. Tony Banksasked the Secretary of State for Transport how many replies he has received in response to his White Paper, "Buses," Cmnd. 9300, in favour of and how many were against (a) eliminating cross subsidy, (b) reducing subsidy, (c) reorganising the National Bus Company into smaller units, (d) introducing shared taxis without controls, (e) replacing conventional full size bus services with mini bus services, (f) introducing the requirement that authorities seek competitive tenders for contracts to run bus services and (g) abandoning the controls the number of taxis in metropolitan areas.
§ Mr. David MitchellThe White Paper did not propose nor does the Transport Bill provide powers for the elimination of cross-subsidy, the reduction of subsidy, the introduction of shared taxis without controls nor the replacement of conventional full size bus services with minibus services. There was a wide range of responses on the NBC, tendering and taxis proposals but the complex and thoughtful nature of many of the responses makes it impossible to place them in to the simple categories of for and against.
§ Mr. Tony Banksasked the Secretary of State for Transport (1) how many replies he has received in response to his White Paper, "Buses," Cmnd. 9300, from area transport users consultative committees in areas outside London that might be affected; and how many of these were in favour of reducing the subsidy to bus services and how many were opposed;
(2) how many replies he has received in response to his White Paper, "Buses," Cmnd. 9300, from area transport users consultative committees in areas outside London that might be affected; and how many of these were in favour of deregulating the bus industry and how many were opposed.
§ Mr. David MitchellI have received one response from an area transport users consultative committee broadly in favour of the White Paper proposals. Several area transport users consultative committees have endorsed the response by the joint public transport users group in the six metropolitan counties which was broadly opposed to the policy. The proposals set out in the White Paper are about improving local bus services and getting better value for money, not about changing the level of subsidy available to support the industry.
§ Mr. Tony Banksasked the Secretary of State for Transport how many replies received in response to his White Paper, "Buses," Cmnd. 9300, indicated that the proposals would have an adverse effect by causing (a) reduced services in rural areas, (b) loss of a co-ordinated network, (c) higher fares and cuts in services on less well used or costly routes and at less popular times of the day or week and (d) increased congestion and reduced safety.
§ Mr. David MitchellWe have received over 8,000 responses many of which contained a mixture of these particular points. The Department has now published a response to the consultation, which addresses these arguments, copies of which have been placed in the Library.