Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact on bus users of the expiration of emergency covid-19 funding for bus services.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Department has provided unprecedented levels of financial support to the bus sector during the pandemic. Through the Coronavirus Bus Service Support Grant, over £1.5 billion in emergency funding has been provided to operators and Local Transport Authorities. Since September 2021, an additional £226.5 million has been made available to the sector through the Bus Recovery Grant.
Together, this funding has played an important role in ensuring those who need to travel by bus have been able to do so. The Department is committed to seeing the sector return to financial sustainability, but recognises the ongoing challenges faced to maintain services.
The Department is working with the sector to understand the implications of recovery funding ending, including the effect this would have on service levels and passengers.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government plans to take to improve enforcement of noise limit regulations for vehicles.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
On 2nd August, the Department published the results of research into enforcement of vehicle noise requirements using acoustic cameras. This research has shown that the technology has the potential to be used for enforcement, but that there are still difficulties in accurately measuring noise from individual vehicles in busier traffic conditions.
The Department intends to conduct further research into the use of acoustic cameras with the aim of enabling the wider use of the technology for the enforcement of vehicle noise requirements.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding has been allocated from the £226.5 million covid-19 bus operator recovery grant (a) to each combined authority area and (b) in total from the commencement of that grant until 1 September 2021.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Bus Recovery Grant will support Local Transport Authorities and commercial operators to deliver bus services until the end of the current financial year. Allocations for each local authority will be announced shortly.