Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure that public transport operators reduce fares to pass onto passengers the benefit of falling petrol and diesel prices.

I am aware that my Rt Hon Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury recently wrote to the five largest UK bus operators seeking their assurance that they are doing all they can to ensure passengers benefit from the fall in oil prices.

The bus market outside London is deregulated, with the vast majority of services provided on a commercial basis by private sector bus operators. Decisions on the level of fares are a commercial matter for individual bus operators.