§ Mr. DrewTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on how he intends to618W encourage through ticketing, particularly where changes in bus contracts for certain routes require a passenger to use different companies for their journey. [151942]
§ Mr. McNultyLocal authorities have a power under s135 of the Transport Act 2000 to require local bus operators to provide through ticketing. The Bus Partnership Forum, which I chair, has produced four templates intended for use as model ticketing schemes, including one that provides an example of a through-ticketing scheme involving different companies. We are placing the templates on the Department for Transport's website (under "Local Transport"), and I encourage all local transport authorities and bus operators to take advantage of these resources.
For services that are operated under contact to the local authority, there is nothing to prevent the authority imposing conditions as to ticket validity on those services.