§ Ian StewartTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many journeys were taken by bus passengers in each passenger transport authority area in each of the last three years. [106452]
§ Mr. JamiesonRevised bus patronage figures for the year 2001–02 for Greater Manchester, Merseyside and West Midlands passenger transport authority areas were published by the Department on Thursday 3 April 2003. Previous estimates were published by the Department in "A Bulletin of Public Transport Statistics GB: 2002 and in Regional Transport Statistics: 2002".
The revisions follow a National Statistics Quality Review of the Department's bus, coach and light rail statistics and discussions held with staff in the passenger transport authorities about differences in their estimates of bus patronage and those produced by the Department. The full set of figures is as follows:
Bus passenger journeys Million Area 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 Tyne and Wear 151 146 141 West Yorkshire 180 189 181 South Yorkshire 130 131 128 Merseyside 149 142 1142 Greater Manchester 199 204 1205 West Midlands 353 353 1352 1 Revised figure