Bus Funding
Debate between Sarah Dyke and Louise Haigh(1 month ago)
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Louise Haigh
I am grateful to my hon. Friend. We know that franchising works; Greater Manchester went through the franchising process a year ago and it has already driven up revenues and passenger numbers. That has allowed Andy Burnham to step in and use that revenue to keep his own bus fare cap at £2. With the funding allocated today, local transport authorities can absolutely lower fares below the maximum of £3. I absolutely encourage areas that already have the powers to plan a bus network that is appropriate for their communities. The Department stands ready to work with Devon and Torbay to ensure that they can do that.
Sarah Dyke (Glastonbury and Somerton) (LD)
The new funding for bus services in Somerset is welcome, but my constituents often tell me that they need bus-rail links to connect areas not served by train stations. Will the Secretary of State outline the exact conditions for what each tranche of money must be spent on, to allow the council to plan much-needed improvements to services in rural areas?
Louise Haigh
The way the formula has been designed explicitly benefits rural areas, because a third of the allocation is dependent on bus mileage; that is why a number of areas, including Somerset, have done much better out of today’s allocation than in previous years. We are removing the controls that were previously required. All the funding will have to be spent on buses, but we believe it is right that local transport authorities take those decisions themselves rather than being constrained by central diktat from Whitehall.
Rail Performance
Debate between Sarah Dyke and Louise Haigh(1 month, 1 week ago)
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Louise Haigh
I absolutely agree. For too long, passengers have not been able to rely on the railways, and it has driven people off them. We see in the latest Transport Focus data that people are gradually starting to feel more confident in using the railways, but we have a long way to go to turn the tide on the last 14 years of failure.
Sarah Dyke (Glastonbury and Somerton) (LD)
Improved rail performance is of course welcome, but my constituents in Somerton and Langport are not served by the railway at all. A family in Curry Rivel recently wrote to me; they are over half an hour away from the nearest train station, leaving them isolated from the train line. Will the Minister outline any plans she has to connect my constituents in rural areas to the railway?