Tag: Simon Kirby

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-04-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to encourage the interoperability of smart tickets on local bus services outside London where more than one bus company runs the service; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Hammond

The Government’s ambitions for smart and integrated ticketing on England’s buses are set out in chapter 4 of the Door to Door Strategy. Local Authorities already have the powers to introduce multi-operator ticketing schemes. In March 2013, the Department published guidance to help and encourage authorities to establish schemes in their areas.

A significant number of smart ticketing schemes already operate across the UK and the Department has held a series of conversations with the Brighton & Hove transport authority and operators to see how their offer can be accelerated. All of the major urban areas, and a number of counties, have smart ticketing schemes, and all buses in London and over three quarters of buses elsewhere in England are smart-equipped.

In addition we have set up the Smart Cities Partnership, through which we will work with the nine largest cities in England (excluding London) and operators to support them in delivering and enhancing smart, integrated ticketing schemes.

The outcome of this partnership approach will be greater co-ordination of efforts, concentration on resolving long-standing problems, a framework for other transport authorities to adopt and an acceleration of delivery of smart ticketing products for passengers. I ensure accountability of the Partnership through its governance arrangements.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-04-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve rail services in the Brighton travel to work area; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Hammond

The new TSGN franchise, as well as using the new rolling stock which will be phased into service from 2016, will require the franchisee to meet ambitious targets to improve punctuality and reliability performance, service quality and passenger satisfaction. We have also made clear to bidders that they can receive extra evaluation credit for submitting proposals that exceed our specified train service and quality requirements.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-04-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with cities outside London on interoperability of smart tickets between rail and bus services; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Hammond

The Department for Transport is working closely with nine major cities and regions outside London to establish how plans to accelerate smart ticketing on bus and rail can be achieved. The initiative known as the ‘Smart Cities Partnership’ and funded by the Department brings together the authorities concerned, the operators and the policy makers to address some of the technical and commercial challenges.

This programme will pave the way for other cities and authorities with similar ambitions to have smart interoperable ticket offers to passengers. It will also build upon the South East Flexible Ticketing programme which the Department is leading on which will see rail stations suitably equipped for smart ticketing, and more flexible smart ticket products on offer which are better suited to meet modern working and leisure patterns.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-04-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions his Department has had with Brighton and Hove City Council on the condition of roads in that area; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Robert Goodwill

Officials at the Department for Transport discuss highways maintenance matters with local authorities as and when issues are raised with them. Brighton and Hove City Council also registered to attent the recent "Gearing up for Efficient Highway Delivery and Funding from 2015 Roadshow" where the Department sought views from the sector on the future of funding arrangements for highways maintenance and on improvements to the value for money of the local road network programme.

The Department for Transport provides capital funding to local highway authorities from the local maintenance highways maintenance capital block grant and over the four year period from 2011 Brighton and Hove City Council’s allocation is £13.9 million.

The Department has also allocated additional highways maintenance funding to authorities to help repair roads damaged due to severe weather events. For Brighton and Hove City Council this includes £0.152 million in 2010/11, £0.412 million in March 2011 and more recently £0.295 million in March 2014.

A £200 million Pothole Fund was announced in the recent Budget. From this, £168 million is being made available to councils in England through a bidding exercise. Further details of the fund were made available on 24 April, and can be found at:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/pothole-fund-2014-to-2015-application.

Any local authorities wishing to apply for a share of the funding are required to submit an application to the Department for Transport by 22 May 2014.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-04-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with Transport for London (TfL) about the use of other smart ticket systems in the TfL area; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Hammond

Department for Transport officials work regularly with Transport for London (TfL) both on the national strategy for smart and integrated ticketing and on implementation in and around London. Cooperation with TfL is integral to any smart ticketing system which includes the London area, in order to ensure full integration of systems and a positive passenger experience.

TfL will shortly have completed the delivery of the “ITSO on Prestige” project, specified and funded by the Department, which has equipped the capital with readers that can now accept the national open standard for transport ticketing (ITSO) as well as contactless bank cards. We have been working closely with them to make the most of this investment, including accepting Southern’s “The Key” card which was successfully launched at Victoria by my Noble Friend the Minister of State for Transport, Baroness Kramer, last year. Southern is also working closely with us and TfL to roll out more products progressively as the capability becomes available.

TfL is also a key delivery partner for the South East Flexible Ticketing programme (SEFT) and has been a signatory to the Memorandum of Understanding and a member of the Programme Board since the beginning. Significant work continues to be undertaken with them in order to ensure that the SEFT scheme will interoperate properly with their existing infrastructure in the London area.