To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate she has made of the average public subsidy to a bus operating on the non-tendered network in (a) Greater Manchester and (b) England in 2006-07. (190457)

[holding answer 29 February 2008]: We estimate that in 2006-07 the average subsidy (defined as reimbursement of the costs of concessionary fares and payments of Bus Service Operators Grant) per bus operating non-tendered mileage was:

For the purposes of this calculation we have used the assumption, derived from statistical surveys of the proportion of bus operated mileage which is on non-tendered routes, that 80 per cent. of buses are engaged in non-tendered work and that 80 per cent. of subsidy (as defined in the table) is with respect to non-tendered routes.