§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the inconvenience caused to the travelling public of the non-interchangeability of tickets in the privatised rail companies.
§ Mr. FreemanTicketing arrangements are at present an operational matter for the British Railways board. For the future, the Secretary of State has instructed the franchising director to require franchisees to offer tickets which are inter-available between their services where he believes that the benefits of doing so will outweigh the likely benefits of price competition and service diversity. The franchising director is considering the implementation of this policy in consultation with British Rail and the rail regulator.