Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the decision by Great Western Railway to withdraw from the easitNETWORK scheme on (a) traffic congestion, (b) air quality and (c) carbon emissions in (i) Oxfordshire and (ii) other counties.
The franchise agreement allows train operators to participate at their discretion in a wide range of schemes of benefit to passengers without seeking Secretary of State consent, but does not mandate non-national schemes.
We are committed to taking decisive action on the recommendation of the Williams Rail Review this year. Fare transformation is already underway in the form of a single-leg fares trial on LNER and the announcement of flexible season ticket trial for passengers travelling on certain routes with GTR, due to launch later this year. We have also established a new ‘fares trials fund’, to kick start further trials this year across the country. These will save thousands of passengers money, and provide the foundations for reform of the whole fares system.