Select committee: Built Environment Committee
Conclusion 33
1st Report - Public transport in towns and cities
Published 9 Nov 2022
Built Environment Committee Public transport in towns and cities All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Improving the safety of stations, stops and interchanges by ensuring that they are clean and well-lit should be a priority for operators and local and national government. The fear of abuse and harassment can deter women in particular from using public transport. 6 These figures exclude Sundays, where bus ridership is traditionally much higher, and the three days comprising the preceding day, actual day and subsequent day of the Queen’s State Funeral. DfT, ‘Official Statistics: Transport use during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic’, 3 June 2020: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/transport-use-during -the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic [accessed 11 August 2022] 7 Ibid. 8 Written evidence from Urban Transport Group ( TTS0016 ) 9 DfT, ‘Official Statistics: Transport use during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic’, 3 June 2020: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/transport-use-during-the -coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic [accessed 11 August 2022] 10 Written evidence from Go-Ahead ( TTS0010 ) 11 DfT, Transport Statistics Great Britain 2019 , 2019: https://assets.publishing.service. gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/870647/ tsgb-2019.pdf [accessed 10 October 2022] 12 Written evidence from the DfT ( TTS0028 ) 13 DfT, Transport Statistics Great Britain 2019 14 DfT, Transport Statistics Great Britain , 17 December 2020: https://assets. publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachme nt_data/ file/945829/tsgb-2020.pdf [accessed 11 August 2022] NB: 4% of trips were ‘other’. 15 DfT, Transport Statistics Great Britain: 2021, 16 December 2021: https://www.gov .uk/government/statistics/transport-statistics-great-britain-2021/transport-statistics -great-britain-2021 [accessed 11 August 2022] 16 Q 64 (Professor Peter White) 17 Written evidence from Dr Kiron Chatterjee to the House of Commons Transport Select Committee on Reforming public transport after the pandemic inquiry, 12 February 2021 ( REF0102 ) 18 Written evidence from the Transport Planning Society ( TTS0057 ) 19 Ibid . , they describe the inter-peak period as 10:00–16:00. 20 Written evidence from Go-Ahead ( TTS0010 ) and Transport for London ( TTS0060 ) 21 Written evidence from Transport for London ( TTS0060 ) 22 DfT, Transport Statistics Great Britain 2020 , 17 December 2020: https:// assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_ data/file/945829/tsgb-2020.pdf [accessed 11 August 2022]. The other categories included for education, shopping, escorting others and personal business. 23 Written evidence from Transport Focus ( TTS0062 ) 24 Q 3 (Stephen Joseph) and Transdev, ‘Transdev in the UK says come back to bus with us and save’, 17 June 2021: https://www.transdev.com/en/modes-of- transport/transdev-uk-come-back-bus/ [accessed 31 October 2022] 25 Witnesses including Transport Focus ( TTS0062 ) and Stephen Joseph OBE ( QQ 1–10 ). See also Appendix 5. 26 Written evidence from Transport Focus ( TTS0062 ) 27 Written evidence from Transport for London ( TTS0060 ) 28
From: Built Environment Committee, 1st Report - Public transport in towns and cities, 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.