Norman Baker, MP
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
Department for Transport
76, Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DR

25th August 2011

Dear Norman,

I am writing on behalf of a number of constituents who are concerned about the Government's plans to end Bus Service Operators' Grant payments to coach companies to cover the remaining cost of half price tickets for elderly and disabled people. I understand that this public subsidy was worth £17 million last year.

I share my constituents' concerns that this cut will have a severe impact on the mobility of all those who took one or more of the 3 million discounted bus journeys that were possible because of this public support in 2009-10. Moreover, it is likely that the impact on people's mobility will be compounded by significant increases in the cost of rail travel and could have the dangerously counterproductive effect of encouraging many people to drive private cars rather than take public transport - leading to an increase in both congestion and pollution.

This spending cut is particularly disappointing in the light of £10 billion of investment over the spending review period on the expansion and maintenance of the road network. The coach subsidy is worth only 0.17% of that total investment and could, therefore, clearly be afforded, within the spending envelope set by Government, if very slight reductions were made elsewhere. I urge you to make the necessary alterations to allow the subsidisation of half price coach tickets to continue beyond October.

I look forward to your response.

Yours sincerely,
 

Caroline Lucas, MP, Brighton Pavilion

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