HC Deb 12 November 1998 vol 319 cc278-80W
Mr. Efford

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what targets London Transport has been set for 1998–99. [59965]

Ms Glenda Jackson

Tables showing the targets London Transport has been set for 1998/99 are as follows. All targets relate to average performance throughout the year.

London Underground
1997–98 1998–99
Excess journey time (mins) n/a 16.25
Escalators:
% of scheduled service hours operated 93.0 91.4
Lifts: 96.0 293.8
% of scheduled service hours operated
Reliability of service:
% kilometres operated 96.9 96.9
London Underground
1997–98 1998–99
Train service regularity:
% planned intervals achieved 95.9 n/a
Ticket Purchase:
% of customers queueing less than 3 minutes 98.0 n/a
Customer satisfaction ratings:
Train and station cleanliness 69 69
Security and safety 83 83
Staff helpfulness and availability 70 70
Train and station information 75 75
Train service 77 77
Financial targets 5 £10.28
Operating costs per train km3 5 £310.0m
LUL gross margin4
1 This is a new target replacing previous targets on train service headways and ticket office queues. See note below for details.
2 See below for explanation of lower targets in 1998–99 than in 1997–98.
3 Costs per operated train kilometre to exclude depreciation, renewals, restructuring and PFI costs.
4 LUL gross margin before depreciation, renewals, restructuring and PFI costs.
5 Financial targets were set in 1996 over a three year period i.e. to be achieved in 1998–99. The figures shown in the 1998–99 column reflect the original targets, revalued at 1998–99 prices.
L.T. Buses
1997–98 1998–99
Reliability of service: 99 99
% kilometres operated
Excess wait on high frequency routes (mins) 1.5 1.4
Departures on time:
% on low frequency routes 74 77
Early departures: 4.0 3.4
% on low frequency routes
Night bus:
% departures on time 65 70
Customer satisfaction ratings1
Condition of bus stops and shelters 57 76
Internal cleanliness of buses 63 83
External cleanliness of buses 55 78
Staff helpfulness 66 87
Bus station environment 71 76
Bus station information 68 68
Financial targets
Subsidy per bus km2 3— Not more than 6.53p
L.T. Buses gross loss4 3— Not more than £21.7m
1 These targets have been recalibrated for 1998–99 and so are not directly comparable to previous years.
2 Net subsidy per operated bus kilometre before depreciation, renewals, restructuring and PFI costs.
3 Financial targets were set in 1996 over a three year period i.e. to be achieved in 1998–99. The figures shown in the 1998–99 column reflect the original targets, revalued at 1998–99 prices.
4 L.T. Buses gross loss before depreciation, renewals, restructuring and PFI costs.
Other Services
1997–98 1998–99
Customer satisfaction ratings:
Travel information call centre— ease of reaching Enquiry service n/a 77
Travel information call centre— operator helpfulness n/a 91
Dial-a-Ride—percentage of calls answered first time n/a 20
Other Services
1997–98 1998–99
Dial-a Ride—percentage of punctual arrivals n/a 93
Financial targets
Group services gross loss1 2— Not more than £23.4m
Property rental income growth3 2 IPD index
Dial-a-Ride cost per trip 2 £10.80
1 Includes Victoria Coach Station, Unit for Disabled Passengers, PASS and L.T. Museum but excludes Bus Insurance Liability costs. To be amended to reflect transfer of PASS to the private sector following the signing of Prestige.
2 Financial target were set in 1996 over a three year period i.e. to he achieved in 1998–99. The figures shown in the 1998–99 column reflect the original targets, revalued at 1998–99 prices.
3 To be at least as good as the average shown by the IPD index (Investment Property Databank Index) on a three year rolling basis.

Notes:

Lifts and escalators 1. This year's targets for lift and escalator availability on the Underground are lower than last year. That reflects the short term impact of the increased levels of investment in the Underground following the announcement of an extra £365m of funding for the Underground. We will be expecting improvements in future years as the benefits of the investment programme become apparent.

Journey time metric 2. This year's targets include a new target for excess journey time. This is based on a new measure LT have introduced—the journey time metric. The journey time metric is a system developed for measuring customers overall journey time on the network. It breaks down a journey into its component parts (ticket purchase time, access time to platforms, platform waiting time etc.) and measures them in a way which reflects customer's perceived time rather than actual time. This is done by the application of weightings. For example, people dislike waiting for trains, therefore a weight of 2 is applied to the actual wait time (doubling the figure for time spent waiting on platforms). 3. L.T. use this measure to build up a scheduled journey time, reflecting the amount of time a journey should take in free flow conditions, when there is no queueing, every train runs precisely to timetable, and there is no disruption. The excess journey time is then calculated by observing the difference between the scheduled journey time and the observed journey time. Both measures have the relevant weighting applied, and the difference between them will be the excess journey time.