HC Deb 24 July 2002 vol 389 cc1271-2W
Mr. Don Foster

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress has been made towards meeting the targets set out in 'Our towns and cities: the future', relating to(a) journey times on the London underground, (b) road congestion in large urban areas, (c) increasing bus use, (d) increasing rail use, (e) reducing the number of people killed and injured in road accidents and (f) increasing light rail use. [69385]

Mr. Jamieson

These targets were set out in the 10 Year Plan for Transport and referred to in "Our towns and cities: the future". The progress recorded so far is as follows(a) Journey times on the London Underground PSA target: "Cut journey times on London Underground by increasing capacity and reducing delays. Specific targets will be agreed with the Mayor after the PPP has been established.

London Underground Limited's Reliability Improvement Programme delivered improvements in both indicators last year. In 2001–02 capacity increased by 2.5 per cent. and delays reduced by 6.7 per cent. (b) Road congestion in large urban areas PSA target: "Reduce road congestion in large urban areas below current levels by 2010 by promoting integrated transport solutions and investing in public transport and the road network".

A new congestion monitoring exercise to establish the baselines from which progress will be measured is being finalised and the results will be published in due course. (c) Increasing bus use PSA target: "Increase bus use from 2000 levels by 10 per cent. by 2010, while improving punctuality and reliability".

The latest figures for bus use, for 2000–01, show the number of passenger journeys increased by 1 per cent. across England as a whole. Results for 2001–02 are due in October. Latest results for service reliability, for the fourth quarter in 2001–02 show 98.7 per cent. of scheduled local bus mileage in England was completed compared with 98.6 per cent. one year ago. (d) Increasing rail use PSA target: "Increase rail use in Great Britain by 50 per cent. between 2000 and 2010, while improving punctuality and reliability".

The latest results for 2001–02 show an increase of 2.4 per cent. in passenger kilometres travelled compared to the previous year.

(e) Reducing the number of people killed and injured in road accidents PSA target: "Reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured in GB in road accidents by 40 per cent. by 2010 and the number of children killed or seriously injured by 50 per cent. compared with the average for 1994–98.

Provisional results for 2001 show a reduction of 14.9 per cent. (total) and 27.3 per cent. (children) compared to the baseline. (f) Increasing light rail use PSA target: "Double light rail use from 2000 levels by 2010".

The latest results, for 2000–01 show a 27 per cent. increase in passenger journeys compared to the previous year. Results for 2001–02 are due shortly.