Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the role of congestion charging in helping to reduce traffic in towns and cities; and whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of congestion charging for helping to control levels of (a) traffic and (b) air pollution as the covid-19 lockdown is lifted.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The decision to implement road charging in towns and cities is ultimately one for the relevant Local Highways Authority. The Mayor of London recently reinstated the Congestion and Ultra Low Emission Zone charges in the capital as a measure to manage traffic and air quality.
A number of larger cities are developing proposals for charging Clean Air Zones to reduce air pollution and our recent rapid call for evidence will ensure we can fully understand the impact that coronavirus is having on changes in air pollution emissions, concentrations and exposure.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of buses in England (a) meet and (b) exceed Euro VI emission standards.
Answered by George Freeman
Around 35% of buses in the English fleet meet the Euro VI emissions standards, or 12,150 buses. This includes buses which have been retrofitted to Euro VI standards.
Buses which exceed the Euro VI emissions standard are zero emission buses. There are 317 zero emission buses in operation in England, or 0.91% of the total number in the bus fleet.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how he plans to allocate the £200 million of increased funding to transform bus services announced in the Spending Round 2019.
Answered by George Freeman
On 30 September this year, the Government announced a package to transform bus services. This package, worth £220 million in the first year, includes:
Investing up to £50 million to deliver Britain’s first all-electric bus town or city;
Introducing the first ‘Superbus’ network approach to deliver low fare high frequency services in Cornwall;
£30 million extra bus funding to be paid directly to local authorities to enable them to improve current bus services or to restore lost services;
Investing over £20 million in bus priority measures in the West Midlands; and
£20 million to support demand responsive services in rural and suburban areas.
Further details of the package can be found online with the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-better-deal-for-bus-users/a-better-deal-for-bus-users