Asked by
Baroness Taylor of Stevenage
To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of
trends in the provision of bus services in England since 2019.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Transport () (Con)
My Lords, Covid-19 resulted in significant reductions to
passenger numbers and bus service levels. To mitigate that, the
Government have provided over £2 billion in emergency and
recovery funding to keep vital bus services running. On 9
February we announced a further extension of that support until
30 June. As a result, bus service provision in England outside
London remained at over 85% of pre-Covid levels in 2021-22.
Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)
My Lords, last week two separate zero-emission buses projects, in
Milton Keynes and Stevenage, collapsed when the private sector
partner, Arriva, pulled out, saying it was because passenger
numbers had not recovered after the pandemic. What specific
assessment have the Government done of the reasons for the 18%
drop in passenger numbers since the pandemic? What more can be
done to encourage the private sector to participate in these
zero-emission pilots?
(Con)
My Lords, it is very disappointing that Arriva decided it was no
longer willing to take part in those projects. Other bus
operators are taking part in projects elsewhere in the country,
and indeed Arriva itself is still participating in other separate
zero-emission buses projects. Essentially, we very much hope that
it will come back to the table once, and if, passenger numbers
increase.
The reduction in passenger numbers is related to changes to
concessionary travel and to people going to work and working from
home. We believe that we have stabilised at this point, and now
we look forward to bussing back better.
Lord McLoughlin (Con)
My Lords, I draw your Lordships’ attention to my registered
interest as chairman of Transport for the North. May I ask my
noble friend to give some long-term assurance on the amount of
support we are giving to bus companies? What has been done has
been very welcome, but there is uncertainty about what will
happen after 30 June, and buses are needed as a reliable form of
public transport for our country.
(Con)
I absolutely accept what my noble friend is saying. From the
Government’s perspective, we have had to see what happens to
patronage and where service levels have ended up, given the
current levels of support. We are also looking at the impact of
the £2 bus fare cap. All these things are going into our analysis
of what we may be able to do to support the bus sector after 30
June.
(Lab)
My Lords, does the Minister agree that what is called for is
regulation, and that if we reintroduce it right across the board
and give those powers back to local authorities, they will be far
more efficient in their use of bus resources?
(Con)
I keep hearing this from the Labour Party, and I am not entirely
sure which regulations and powers Labour is proposing to give
back to local transport authorities. As the noble Lord well
knows, at the moment, local transport authorities are required to
produce an enhanced partnership, which is between them and the
bus operators. If they do not want to do that, they can take all
the powers they want and franchise the whole system.
(Con)
My Lords, will my noble friend be issuing guidance to plumbers
and electricians on how to carry their tools and equipment on a
bus, especially in outer London, since the Mayor of London
appears determined to deprive them of their vans?
(Con)
Questions is fun today, isn’t it? The Government will not be
issuing guidance to plumbers and electricians, on the basis that
they probably know how to carry their tools. We are looking with
great interest at the Mayor of London’s proposed extension of
ULEZ. I would also point out that he announced—yesterday, I
think—something called the Superloop for outer London, which
sounded very new. However, I checked and in my area that includes
the existing X26, so the Superloop involves quite a substantial
amount of rebranding, as often happens with the Mayor of London.
(LD)
Does the Minister accept that there is an urgent need for reform
of bus service funding and an end to this hand-to-mouth approach
caused by the short timescales for Department for Transport
decision-making? Does she also accept that any new funding
mechanism should be based not on competitive bids but on greater
devolution and less interference from the Department for
Transport?
(Con)
I believe I have already addressed the point about the short-term
nature of the funding. I agree it is not ideal; however, it has
been necessary as the whole system has transitioned. I reassure
the noble Baroness that we will also be looking at BSOG reform
this year. To remind noble Lords, this is a very important amount
of money: some £250 million goes into the sector, which keeps bus
fares low, but we have to make sure that it also supports net
zero. There are all sorts of different things we can do with bus
funding. In 2021-22, 57% of all income for the bus sector came
from central and local government.
The Lord Speaker ()
My Lords, the noble Lord, , is participating remotely.
(Con) [V]
My Lords, many people rely on buses to get to work, especially in
cities, including, of course, disabled people. Given the urgent
need to close the disability employment gap, which continues to
be at a high of around 30%, what assessment have the Government
made of the impact on disabled people’s ability to get to work in
light of the trends in the provision of bus services?
(Con)
As we set out in our long-term national bus strategy, ensuring
the safe and comfortable movement of all people on buses,
including those with accessibility issues, is an absolute
priority. I will take back to the department my noble friend’s
specific question about disabled people. In a similar vein, it is
also worth mentioning some further good news: the accessibility
information regulations should be laid today, which, I am sure,
many noble Lords will welcome.
(Lab)
My Lords, I wonder if the Minister would be kind enough to go
back to the department for me and then drop me a line on the
appalling treatment of the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined
Authority in respect of central government funding. It is a
mystery to all of us how the Government can talk about better
buses when buses are actually disappearing.
(Con)
We asked all local transport authorities to prepare bus service
improvement plans; some were better than others, and the best
ones were given funding. Regarding the ones that were not so
good, we supported the local transport authorities by providing
them with revenue support so they could upskill their staff and
improve their BSIPs for the future. I believe that is what
happened in South Yorkshire, and I very much hope it has been
able to use the money we gave it successfully.
(Con)
My Lords, my noble friend will be aware of the importance to
rural bus services of concessionary bus fares. What will the
future of these fares be after June?
(Con)
We are not planning any changes to the levels of concessionary
bus fares, but we are looking closely at the implementation of
the concessionary fares scheme. Over the course of 2023 we will
look closely at the reimbursement guidance and the calculator to
make sure that bus operators are getting the correct amount of
money for the people they carry.
(GP)
My Lords, the statutory concessionary bus fare scheme provides
free travel for pensioners and disabled people from 9.30 am to 11
pm Monday to Friday, and at any time on weekends and public
holidays. Given the change in use patterns, that people needing
to get to medical appointments often have to travel before 9.30
am, and that many older people—including someone I was talking to
in Liverpool at the weekend—are providing childcare that enables
other members of their family to work, should that statutory
concession not operate 24 hours a day on weekdays as well?
(Con)
My Lords, we have looked at the concessionary scheme and we have
no plans to change it at this time. However, I remind the noble
Baroness that the £2 fare cap is currently in place, and that
will benefit those who are not able to use the scheme early in
the morning.
(Con)
My Lords, my understanding is that when a bus is cancelled at
very short notice, often because of congestion, that data is not
filtering through in real time to Google Maps or any of the
national APIs. This makes it very difficult for people to plan
their journeys and has an impact on economic productivity. Will
the Minister look into this and see what can be done to put it
right?
(Con)
I will happily take that back to the department. The Government
set up the bus open data service a few years ago now, and for the
first time we were able to consolidate all the information from
the bus operators and make great strides towards providing the
real-time information that passengers need. But I will certainly
take that point back to the department to make sure we are
considering it.
