§ Lord Bradshawasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is their latest appraisal of the public information available to bus users through PTI2000 in terms of (a) availability, and (b) standard of service provided. [HL1126]
§ Lord Falconer of ThorotonTraveline (formerly PTI2000) provides information on all public transport services throughout Great Britain by way of call to a single telephone number, 0870 608 2608. The service continues to make steady improvements in reliability and accuracy. The Traveline partners review performance regularly, including by mystery shopping.
§ Lord Bradshawasked Her Majesty's Government:
Apart from the rural bus grant and the Travel Concessions Eligibility Bill now before Parliament what new initiatives they have in mind to promote the use of buses. [HL1127]
§ Lord Falconer of ThorotonWe are encouraging bus use by a combination of policy and fiscal measures. We have just introduced strengthened powers under last year's Transport Act to enable local authorities, to improve the Qua[...] us services through enforce[...] erships and Quality
90WA
Foreign HGV roadworthiness checks Year Vehicles checked Prohibition Rate 2000–01 3,951 9.9% 1999–2000 3,684 8.5% 1998–99 3,498 8.6% Note:
The Foreign Vehicles Act only provides for the issue of prohibitions for defects that cause an immediate road safety risk in the case of foreign vehicles. There is only a single VI activity code for foreign vehicles so it is not possible to separate the motor vehicle and trailer prohibition rates.
Contract schemes. The Act also empowers authorities to require operators to participate in joint ticketing schemes, as well as enabling them to step in to provide proper passenger information, at the operators' expense, if existing arrangements are inadequate. We have also strengthened the powers of the traffic commissioners by making their financial penalty regime more flexible. We have introduced statutory requirements to ensure all new buses are fully accessible and have provided a major boost to capital investment through our funding of local transport plans. We have also provided £46 million over the three years 2001–02 to 2003–04 for our new Urban Bus Challenge competition The results of the first of the annual challenge competitions were announced on 2 November. Following consultation in the spring, we will be introducing regulations later this financial year to extend fuel duty rebate to a wide range of community transport services.