Bus Services: England

Question

Our bus services in Leeds have been unreliable for years, and yet the Leeds City Council Conservative group wanted more of the same and hoped the problem would just go away. Will the Minister join me in congratulating Labour's West Yorkshire Mayor, Tracy Brabin, on taking the significant decision to bring our buses back into public control, so they can once again be run for people and not for profit?

Question

It has been three years since the Government published their national bus strategy, but we are still waiting for the promised guidance on what constitutes “socially and economically necessary” bus services for which local authorities can provide subsidies. While we wait, people in Stapleton, in my constituency, are having to walk a mile to get to a bus stop to catch a bus to the city centre, because First Bus says it is not commercially profitable to run a service through Stapleton and there is no money to subsidise it. Last July, a Minister told me that guidance would be issued in this Parliament, which is clearly close to coming to an end. When will we see that guidance?

Question

As a regular bus user myself, I recognise it when people in rural Devon tell me that some buses fail to appear, meaning they miss connections with trains as a result. The services are well used by college students. Unreliable bus services not only affect the productivity of the college students, but of their parents who are then called upon to help the students make the journey to college, curtailing their working day. What can the Government do to encourage better co-ordination between rail and buses to get students to college on time?

Question

Southend welcomes the £1 million of bus service improvement plan funding that has already enabled Conservative cabinet member Kevin Buck to reinstate the much-loved 25A route, but we need more. Will the Minister commit to come to my high-level bus summit on Monday, to listen to residents and see what more we can do?

Question

Never mess with busy mums and dads, not least because I am one and I know that the Minister is as well. Parents in Arlingham, Frampton, Elmore and Longney are really struggling with rural school bus transport. This is not all about money; it is about reliability, safety and fairness. Indeed, they feel that their children are discriminated against versus what children in towns and cities receive. Gloucestershire County Council is doing a lot. It is stretching itself, but we are really struggling to find solutions. Will the Minister meet me and Councillor Stephen Davies to see whether we can find solutions for our parents in the communities?

Question

It was good to meet my hon. Friend the Minister and the residents of Fishburn in the Sedgefield constituency recently; and he then followed up with Arriva. Will he endorse my campaign to reconnect Fishburn, Trimdon and Sedgefield back with Newton Aycliffe and Darlington, which were cut off by the removal of the X21? Does he also agree that rural services to places such as these are the critical platform to enable opportunity to be spread and a key reason for the BSIP funding?

Question

Good morning, Mr Speaker. Passenger watchdog Transport Focus published a report last week which found huge regional variation in bus passenger satisfaction across the country, with large numbers of passengers 'being let down'. Under the Tories' deregulation of the bus sector, passenger satisfaction with some operators is miles below the average of 80%, with some as low as 66%. In places such as West Yorkshire, Labour Mayors are not standing for it any longer. As my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds North East (Fabian Hamilton) said, Tracy Brabin has announced her intention to pursue franchising to reverse decades of Tory decline. But the vast majority of local authorities do not have those powers, so will the Minister adopt Labour's plan to give every local transport authority the same powers to take back control of their bus services?