To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he has any information about the likely change in the number of (a) bus, (b) coach and (c) rail passengers carried as fare levels change; and if he will make a statement.

The Department does not itself publish general data on the effects of fare changes on public transport passenger levels. This information is available from various sources such as London Regional Transport and some passenger transport executives. Also, fom time to time, university research departments publish studies and the Department's Transport and Road Research Laboratory issued a wide ranging collection of evidence in 1980. However, where the Department is involved in individual investment decisions an examination is undertaken of the elasticities involved, in particular the interaction between public transport fares and road traffic congestion levels.