Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the merits of extending Oyster and contactless payments to bus services across Hertfordshire.

The bus market outside London is deregulated with the majority of services provided on a commercial basis by private sector bus operators. Smart ticketing is an important element of making buses more attractive and the bus industry has been rolling out smart ticketing and contactless payments on buses in many areas for a number of years. Currently over 60% of buses accept contactless payments. Contactless payment is just one part of the bus user’s experience, and we are taking forward measures to help make bus travel more attractive. I recently announced all operators of local bus services across England (with the exception of Section 19 and Section 22 permit holders) will be required to provide high quality, accurate and open data, including routes and timetables, fares and tickets and location data, from 7 January 2020.