To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport whether Integrated Transport Smartcard Organisation smartcards are planned to be in place across the whole South Central franchise area by 2012. (280380)

The franchisee is required to install an Integrated Transport Smartcard Organisation (ITSO) based smartcard system by January 2012.

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what the terms are for the delay repay scheme stipulated in the South Central franchise. (280381)

The terms of the delay/repay scheme to be introduced on the new South Central franchise are the same as that introduced on other recent franchise competitions.

The terms apply to all ticket types, with an entitlement to 50 per cent. compensation for a delay of between 30 and 59 minutes; 100 per cent. for a delay of 60-119 minutes and 100 per cent. of the return fare for any delay of 120 minutes or more. For season tickets, compensation is calculated using the proportional daily cost of the ticket.

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport for what period the winning bid for the South Central franchise assumes an RPI plus one per cent. increase for unregulated fares. (280382)

The level of unregulated fares are a matter for individual operators. This remains the position within the South Central franchise. The winning bid has assumed that unregulated fares will increase by RPI +1 per cent. on average across the duration of the franchise.