To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if his Department will use (a) Transport Direct and (b) other public transport information means for which he is responsible to alert passengers from other parts of the country to the increases due in 2007 to fares on the tube and buses in London and the discounts and availability of Oyster cards. (104953)

Transport Direct currently plans journeys based on the time taken rather than the cost of the journey. It does hold fares information for rail travel and for car journeys however no interface currently exists to enable local fares to be accessed via the portal.

Over the past 12 months consultation has been held with a view to establishing a Farexchange standard for the creation and transmission of fares data via a common language. This may enable such information to be provided in the future. Transport for London shows details of fares and the Oyster reductions on its own website, however these are only available in text format and are not linked to journey planning results.