Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress his Department has made on delivering contactless pay-as-you-go ticketing commuter networks in the (a) Midlands and (b) north of England.

Recognising the ambition in the National Bus Strategy, Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail and Levelling Up White Paper, we are working to understand the costs, benefits and feasibility of improvements to local public transport ticketing, across local transport markets in England, including those in the Midlands and the North. We have asked representatives from the bus and technology sectors, as well as local authorities to develop an Outline Business Case for investments to support multi-operator bus ticketing. We are also working with the bus industry to expand the provision of contactless pay-as-you-go (PAYG) payment with provision for fares capping.

The Government has committed to expanding contactless PAYG ticketing on rail outside the South East to around 700 stations in regional and urban areas, including around 400 stations in the North. We will announce further details in due course.