Select committee: Built Environment Committee

Recommendation 26

1st Report - Public transport in towns and cities Published 9 Nov 2022 Paragraph 190
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Central government communication of the appraisal process, including to local transport authorities, must be improved. The Government should routinely be providing unsuccessful regions with feedback on their applications and providing support to areas which are struggling to secure funding. This should give stakeholders more confidence that the results of this process are justified.

From: Built Environment Committee, 1st Report - Public transport in towns and cities, paragraph 190, 9 November 2022

Government response

The government responded to the whole report on 12 January 2023 (deadline 9 January 2023).

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The Government welcomes the report and says it agrees with the Committee on a number of recommendations, while noting, partially agreeing with or disagreeing with others.

  • It agrees that public transport investment should focus on user priorities, citing 'Improving Transport for the User' as one of DfT's five strategic priorities.
  • On a multimodal zonal ticketing evaluation, it "notes" the recommendation and says it is for local areas and operators to consider the costs and benefits of specific integrated ticketing solutions.
  • It "partially agrees" on bus rapid transit evaluation, saying a Government-led post-project evaluation "would likely be of limited comparable value" and may risk breaching mode neutrality.
  • On bus funding after emergency support ends, it "partially agrees", says DfT is "actively considering" long-term support from April 2023, and "hope[s]" to set out more clarity by January 2023.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error