Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what support they are providing for the extension of metro services to Dudley.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The Government is supporting the extension of metro services to Dudley through a £321.5m allocation from the ‘Transforming Cities Fund’ to the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA).
WMCA have decided the majority of this allocation will be used to fund the construction of an extension to the Metro tram network from Wednesbury to Dudley, known as the Brierley Hill extension.
As this is a devolved funding stream, the development and approval of the scheme will be for WMCA to take forward without any need for Department for Transport approval, other than the legal orders.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Mayor of London about the proposed extension of the Bakerloo line.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
Ministers and officials at the Department for Transport hold regular meetings with the Mayor of London, officials in his office and Transport for London (TfL). A range of topics are discussed at these meetings, including proposals to extend the Bakerloo Line.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking, if any, to increase the level of cycling in England.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The Government’s statutory Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS), published in April 2017, sets out a number of actions to increase the level of cycling, alongside £1.2 billion of funding that may be invested in cycling and walking in England over the period to 2021.
Since the publication of the Strategy, the Department has identified additional funding for cycling and walking schemes, including around £77 million of support for schemes via the National Productivity Investment Fund. The Government also announced a new £1.7 billion Transforming Cities Fund in the Autumn Budget which will allow a number of cities to support projects aimed at improving local connectivity by boosting cycling and walking. The Department has commenced a major programme of technical support to help 44 local authorities in England develop their Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans (LCWIPs).
The Government launched a call for evidence on how to improve safety for cycling and walking in March 2018 as part of the CWIS Safety Review. The Department for Transport is currently assessing over 13,000 responses and will publish its response in due course.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what lessons they have learnt from the problems with railway timetables in recent weeks.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
We have been clear that the unacceptable disruption following the introduction of the May timetable must not be allowed to happen again.
The May timetable change attempted to implement the most extensive change in years. As a result of the disruption, the rail industry has reviewed its approach for the next planned timetable change and recommended a scaled-back approach to ensure passengers receive a more reliable service. The Government has accepted this recommendation.
The Office of Rail and Road has also announced a review into the recent timetable disruption headed by Professor Stephen Glaister. This review will make recommendations to the industry and Government about future major changes.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of proposals to create sub-national transport bodies in the South West of England and the East of England comprising the local authorities in these areas.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The Department for Transport has not yet received any formal proposal from the South West of England or the East of England to create a statutory Sub-national Transport Body (STB).
However, local authorities in these areas have formed or are in the process of forming a voluntary partnerships with a view to becoming an STB in the future and departmental officials are working with them to develop their plans.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what they consider to be the reasons for the decline in bus journeys in England of 1.4 per cent, as reported in the Quarterly Bus Statistics, published in June.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The latest Quarterly Bus Statistics show that were 4.38 billion passenger journeys on local bus services in England in the year ending March 2018, a 1.4% decrease when compared with a year earlier. This was largely driven by a 2.2% decrease in journeys in England outside London to 2.15 billion. In London journeys fell by 0.6% to 2.23 billion in the year ending March 2018.
It is important to consider the fall in bus journeys in the context of a broader decline in trips. Data from the 2016 National Travel Survey (NTS) shows that in England trips per person excluding short walks have fallen 13% since 2002.
There are a number of factors that may explain the fall in bus patronage on local bus services specifically. These include:
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve the data they collect on bus use.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The Department for Transport’s main source of data on bus passenger journeys is the annual Public Service Vehicle (PSV) operator survey. This is a sample survey of roughly 600 operators of local bus services. The data provided from the PSV survey covers around 90 per cent of the published total passenger journey figure. Comparison with other data sources such as the National Travel Survey suggests the estimates produced from the annual PSV survey provide a robust measure of bus passenger journeys.
To provide up to date figures the Department also runs a Quarterly Panel Survey. This is a quarterly survey of the 18 largest non-metropolitan bus operators, Passenger Transport Executives (for the metropolitan areas) and Transport for London which provides quarterly estimates of passenger journeys.
As part of the Bus Services Act (2017), the Department for Transport is developing regulations to require bus operators and local transport authorities to provide data, in open formats, about local bus services including routes & timetable data, fares & ticket data and real time information. We are working closely with industry to develop the regulations and it is intended the requirements will be phased in over the next few years.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effect of changes to bus fares on passenger behaviour.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The Department for Transport’s WebTAG guidance recommends assuming that a 1% increase in bus fares will reduce trips by 0.3%. In the longer term there will be greater reductions in passenger trips. After 5 years, a 1% increase in bus fares will reduce the number of trips by 0.6% and after 10 years or longer a 1% increase in bus fares will reduce the number of trips by 0.7%.
However, it is important to note that these figures are based on past trends and there is significant uncertainty around them.
There have been important changes to the UK bus market in the last 10 years. The introduction of free travel for elderly and disabled people in 2008 means that the total number of trips is likely to be less responsive to a fare increase than it has been in the past. Furthermore, the Bus Services Act 2017 presents local authorities with new powers to bring about change, and unlock the potential for the bus industry to achieve more for passengers than it has in the past. Additionally, measures requiring bus operators to open up data about fares and tickets, included in the Bus Services Act 2017, will make it easier for passengers to search for best value tickets and will ensure they have a better understanding of the transport options available to them.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which companies operate rail services in the UK; on which routes each company operates; and for each route, when the contract comes to an end.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The information requested is in the table below:
DfT-managed Franchise | Official Expiry Date | Train Operating Company |
Wales and Borders | 14-Oct-18 | Arriva Trains Wales (see note 1) |
East Coast | 24-Jun-18 | Virgin Trains East Coast |
East Midlands | 03-Mar-19 | East Midlands Trains (see note 2) |
South Eastern | 01-Apr-19 | Southeastern |
Cross Country | 13-Oct-19 | Arriva Cross Country (see note 3) |
West Coast | 01-Apr-19 | Virgin Trains West Coast (see note 4) |
Great Western | 01-Apr-20 | Great Western Railway (see note 5) |
TSGN | 19-Sep-21 | Govia Thameslink Railway |
Chiltern | 12-Dec-21 | Chiltern Railways |
TPE | 01-Apr-23 | First Trans Pennine Express |
South Western | 18-Aug-24 | South Western Railways |
Northern | 01-Apr-25 | Northern Rail |
East Anglia | 12-Oct-25 | Greater Anglia |
West Midlands | 01-Apr-26 | West Midlands Trains |
Essex Thameside | 11-Nov-29 | C2C |
Notes
1 The UK Government has agreed in principle to transfer franchising powers to the Welsh Government who are leading and undertaking the procurement of the next Wales and Borders Franchise.
2 Anticipated direct award until 18 Aug 19. As shown on the Rail Franchise Schedule (Jul 17)
3 Assumed that at least 2 additional rail periods (Dec 19) will be utilised. As shown on the Rail Franchise Schedule (Jul 17)
4 Assumed that additional rail periods will be utilised to align with the West Coast Partnership start date (15 Sep 19)
5 Anticipated direct award until Apr 22 as announced in the Strategic Vision for Rail
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the provision of rural bus services in rural communities.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The Government recognises the extra pressures placed on local authorities to provide services in more isolated areas. Where there is not enough demand for a bus route to be commercially viable in its own right, all local authorities have powers to subsidise bus services.
Since January 2014, £40m Bus Service Operator Grant (BSOG) funding per year is paid directly to local authorities, rather than bus operators, in relation to the services that councils fund. This funding is ring-fenced to ensure that it is used to support bus services, but within that it will be for each local authority to decide how to use it.
We are also encouraging local authorities to innovate such as through our Total Transport pilot projects which have explored ways to join up the commissioning of publicly funded transport services so that available funding goes further.
The Bus Services Act 2017 also provides a number of tools to facilitate local authorities working together with operators and communities to provide improved bus services in rural areas.