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20 Oct 2004 : Column 684W—continued
Buses
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how bus usage in (a) England, (b) Yorkshire and the Humber, (c) the City of York and (d) London has changed in percentage terms since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [192416]
Charlotte Atkins: Since 1997, local bus patronage has changed as follows: (a) England, a rise of 4 per cent.;
(b) Yorkshire and the Humber, a fall of 11 per cent.;
(c) City of York, a rise of 17 per cent. (since 2000–01 period, see the following) and;
(d) London, a rise of 24 per cent.
Information is available from DfT surveys of bus operators for 1996–97 to 2002–03 in at regional level. For the City of York, data are from York UA's Annual Performance Report to DfT for the period 2000–01 to 2002–03.
The information for England and the government office regions is published in Tables 10 and 13 in "A Bulletin of Public Transport Statistics GB: 2003 edition." A copy is in the Library of the House.
Ian Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much central government subsidy was paid directly to the five largest bus companies in Great Britain in the form of bus service operators grant in (a) 2002–03 and (b) 2003–04, broken down by area. [191708]
Charlotte Atkins: Bus service operators grant is usually claimed at operating subsidiary or depot level and payment records are not kept in the form requested.
However, we have estimated in the following table the total payments to the five largest bus operators (Arriva, First, GoAhead, Travel West Midlands, and Stagecoach) based on estimates of their share of total bus mileage in each region.
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John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many rural bus services are supported by rural bus grants, broken down by local authority area. [192191]
Charlotte Atkins: The table that follows shows by local transport authority and region the number of bus services supported in 2003–04 by means of the Department's Rural Bus Subsidy Grant. This information has been supplied by the authorities concerned in the annual monitoring return of the grant's use.
Our Rural Bus Challenge scheme has also provided £110 million for 301 projects involving many new services for the communities involved. A list of these projects is in the Library of the House and on the Department's website.
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John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the level of bus patronage has been in each year since 1997 (a) in total and (b) broken down by region. [192192]
Charlotte Atkins: Information on the number of local bus passenger boardings by Government Office Region is published in Table 13 of "A Bulletin of Public Transport Statistics GB: 2003 edition", a copy of which is in the Library of the House.
John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many bus lanes have been created since 2000 (a) in total and (b) broken down by region; and what the total length was in each case. [192193]
Charlotte Atkins:
Information on bus lanes implemented in each Government Office Region for the financial years 2001–02, 2002–03 and 2003–04 is shown in the following table.
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| 2001–02 | 2002–03 | 2003–04 | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Kms | Number | Kms | Number | Kms | Number | Kms | |
| North East | 8 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 17 | 17 |
| North West | 10 | 9 | 23 | 24 | 7 | 12 | 40 | 45 |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 4 | 7 | 6 | 11 | 5 | 5 | 15 | 23 |
| East Midlands | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 7 |
| West Midlands | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 17 | 8 | 23 | 10 |
| East of England | 1 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 14 | 14 |
| South East | 15 | 7 | 29 | 18 | 22 | 23 | 66 | 48 |
| South West | 10 | 4 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 7 | 30 | 19 |
| London | 77 | 19 | 134 | 30 | 51 | 10 | 262 | 59 |
| Total | 130 | 59 | 219 | 103 | 127 | 80 | 476 | 242 |
Container Report
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the report commissioned from Napier university on Container Transshipment and Demand for Container Terminal Capacity in Scotland. [189138]
Mr. Darling: This was a report commissioned by the Scottish Executive which addressed the potential benefits to the Scottish economy of specific port development proposals. The Scottish Minister for Transport has already commented on the report in publishing it on 19 August.
Cycle Lanes
Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many miles of cycle lanes there are in the Greater London area. [191959]
Charlotte Atkins: Transport for London estimates that within the London area there are approximately the following lengths of cycle routes:
300 km of on-road cycle lanes;
200 km of off-road, traffic free routes (fully segregated from traffic) and typically through parks and alongside waterways;
1,500 km of on-road, signed cycle routes, much of this on quiet residential roads.
Energy Efficiency
Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on energy efficiency in his Department's buildings. [186402]
Charlotte Atkins: The Department for Transport estate comprises some 1,170 diverse properties of varying size, use and nature of occupation. The best available information on energy usage in the Department is shown in the following table although there is some estimation involved and not all Department for Transport properties are able to provide data.
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Although there is some variation the overall trend is 2.2 per cent. down. The 3.8 per cent. increase in 2003–04 for energy use in the Department's headquarters building, Great Minster House, was primarily due to a rise in electricity consumption in the summer of 2003 for additional air conditioning to cope with the high temperatures during the period. It was necessary to provide comfortable working conditions for staff and protecting heat sensitive plant and equipment. Other increases were largely the result of better collection of data from additional sites (DVLA), the acquisition of additional accommodation (MAIB) and significant energy consuming refurbishment works outside normal working hours (MCA).
All the electricity used in Great Minster House was obtained from 100 per cent. renewable sources. Some of the agencies such as DSA, MCA, VOSA and DVLA also purchase green energy.
The Department and its agencies are currently considering what needs to be done to enable it to meet the energy targets set out under the Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate.
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