Oral Answers to Questions

Kieran Mullan Excerpts

Thursday 12th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Richard Holden (North West Durham) (Con)]

1. What steps he is taking to improve bus services in (a) rural and (b) other areas.

[Dr Kieran Mullan (Crewe and Nantwich) (Con)]

11. What steps his Department is taking to encourage more frequent bus services.

[The Secretary of State for Transport (Grant Shapps)]

Our £220 million better deal for bus users includes measures to improve bus services in rural and urban areas. This is together with the new £5 billion fund for overhauling bus and cycle links throughout the country.

--- Later in debate ---

[Dr Mullan]

My constituents tell me that very often buses come late or do not turn up at all. As we look to invest more in buses, what are we going to do to make sure that the companies delivering the services are doing a decent job for our residents?

[Grant Shapps]

My hon. Friend is right: it is really important to make these bus services work in a manner where people can just rely on them and where they do not even have to look at a timetable because the frequency is there. As part of doing that, we will be opening up bus open data powers, which will ensure that that information is transferred and available to people at bus stops and in their apps, enabling a much more frequent service to run.