§ Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what assessment he has made of the total number of passenger miles travelled by bus in each of the last four years. [7621]
§ Ms KeebleThe Department does not collect separate information on bus passenger miles. Estimates are made of combined bus and coach passenger mileage, but these are not sufficiently robust to provide accurate year-on-year comparisons.
The number of passenger journeys is considered to be a better measure of bus use, and we have set a target to increase bus passenger journeys in England by 10 per cent, by 2010. We are monitoring this through a large annual sample survey, and the most recent figures for England are as follows:
Bus passenger journeys Million 1996–97 3,753 1997–98 3,773 1998–99 3,719 1999–2000 3,736 Provisional figures for 2000–01 will be published on 18 October.