Asked by: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate he has made of the number of bus services that have closed in the last 12 months; and what assessment he has made of the effects of changes to the concessionary travel scheme on the viability of local bus services.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
There have been 3,385 existing bus registration cancellations in 2013/14 to date (with 5 days of the reporting period remaining). This is a reduction on the previous two years. There were also 3,303 new bus service registrations processed by the Office of the Traffic Commissioner across the same 12 month period.
Concessionary travel should have no impact on the viability of local bus services as reimbursement to bus operators is not a means to support services which are not viable on a commercial basis. Legislation requires Travel Concession Authorities (TCAs) to ensure that bus operators are left "no better off and no worse off" as a consequence of taking part in the mandatory travel concession. In general, TCAs set their Schemes each year and they have discretion to decide whether or not to offer more than the mandatory concession in their own Scheme areas.
Asked by: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the level of cross-subsidy between fare paying passengers and those using the Concessionary Travel Scheme (a) generally and (b) in rural areas.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
Concessionary travel schemes are considered to be public service obligations.
Legislation requires bus operators to accept statutory concessionary bus pass holders for free travel on off-peak journeys within England, and are reimbursed for doing so. Bus operators may not solicit or accept payment for such journeys.
Reimbursement is provided on the basis that operators are “no better and no worse off” for carrying concessionary pass holders, and we therefore do not believe this to constitute a subsidy.
The Department publishes guidance to help authorities calculate appropriate reimbursement rates. We are unaware of any cross-subsidy between fare paying and concessionary pass holding passengers occurring in rural areas or elsewhere.