Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to take steps to increase travel by (a) rail and (b) bus.

As the pandemic is changing travel habits, train operators are reassessing their services to ensure rail timetables meet new passenger travel patterns, are fit for the future, and carefully balance cost, capacity and performance.

The Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, published May 2021, set out the biggest transformation of the railways in three decades with reforms designed to improve services for passengers and encourage a shift to rail. A new public body, Great British Railways, will run the network in the public interest and have a new relationship with train operators defined by tough new contracts incentivising punctual and reliable services.

The National Bus Strategy, published March 2021, set out the Government’s vision for delivering better bus services for passengers across England. In April, we announced over £1 billion of new funding for Bus Service Improvement Plans, part of £3 billion of bus investment during this Parliament, including £525 million to deliver zero emission buses.