50pc bus grant
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THE NEW BUS GRANT for 1977/78 will continue to be paid at the rate of 50 per cent on approved capital expenditure, William Rodgers, Minister for Transport, announced this week.
The grant will be subject to a cash limit of £48.8m and this is intended to enable about the same number of vehicles to be bought with the aid of grant as are being purchased in 1976/77.
Allocations to individual operators are being discussed with the Confederation of British Road Passenger Transport (CPT) and local authority, associations.
Mr Rodgers said that he is still considering the long-term future of new bus grant, which the industry had expected to be cut off in 1980.
But there is now some hope that payments will go beyond that date. Two factors are believed to be influencing the decision.
The first is that 'the industry has impressed the Treasury with the way it has dealt with the allocation of grants within cash limits over the past two years.
The other is that without new bus grant the vehicle manufacturers would suffer greatly as demand dropped off,