Oral Answers to Questions

Liz McInnes Excerpts

Thursday 18th January 2018 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

I cannot promise—I wish I could—no change and no disruption as a result of major investment programmes. The hon. Gentleman will know that the combination of the upgrade to the midland main line and the Thameslink programme must mean, for an interim period, changes to services. There will in fact be more seats from Bedford in peak hours. Of course, many of the east midlands trains arriving at Bedford are already full, so I absolutely regret the fact that we have to inconvenience passengers, but we cannot upgrade and improve the network without taking some difficult decisions.

[Liz McInnes (Heywood and Middleton) (Lab)]

12. What estimate he has made of the number of journeys taken by bus in England in each of the last three years.

[Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)]

15. What estimate he has made of the number of journeys taken by bus in England in each of the last three years.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Jesse Norman)]

The estimated number of passenger journeys made on local bus services in England in each of the past three years is as follows: 2014-15, 4.63 billion; 2015-16, 4.51 billion; and 2016-17, 4.44 billion.

[Liz McInnes]

My constituents regularly contact me to complain about infrequent and unreliable bus services. Does the Minister think that there is a link between that, the decline in bus usage, and the 33% cut to the bus budget since 2010?

[Jesse Norman]

What is striking is that in many ways there is so much to be optimistic about with the bus industry. When I talk to operators, I see great investments in technology and ticketing, and tremendous potential for the industry in the context of the air quality changes that have been made by this Government.