Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of households in rural areas meet the minimum criteria for the bus availability indicator.

The proportion of households by time taken to walk to the nearest bus stop and rural and urban classification is published in table NTS0801, available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/457740/nts0801.xls

The latest statistics show that in 2014, 85% of households in the most rural areas in England were within 13 minutes walk of the nearest bus stop. This proportion increased to 99% of households in England as a whole. These statistics do not take account of the service frequency at the nearest bus stop.