Govt silent on Amos but it likes minis
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STRONG SUPPORT for the increasing use of minibuses has come from the Government.
All three Department of Transport ministers underlined their backing for minibuses during transport questions in the Commons last week.
Junior Transport Minister Lynda Chalker said the recent Bus and Coach Council report The country would miss the bus was clear proof that the industry was thinking positively and constructively about future services.
Her colleague Reg Eyre said he wanted to see the role of minibuses extended in a way that complemented conventional public transport and he was considering how the legislation could be simplified.
However, Mr Eyre steered clear of commenting on the Amos proposals, as Transport Secretary David Howell would hear any possible appeal if London Transport refuses Amos a London bus agreement.
Mr Howell said there was strong support for a development in the bus industry away from its bad image to a new high quality service.
"The new forms of transport are urgently needed, especially minibuses, to replace the highly expensive bus system which has had to be supported by ratepayers' money and to which ratepayers have rightly objected.
"Our approach in the future must be to get away from the old idea that it is necessary for a large 32 seater bus to run with minimal loads, at great cost, when the demand is much diminished. Diminished demands require a new approach," he said.
A word of warning about the use of minibuses in urban areas came from Junior Opposition transport spokesman Bob Hughes, who urged the Government to set its faith firmly against any possibility of any minibus franchising operation directed by one operator.
"Will the Government bear in mind what happened in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur and ensure that we do not have any Mafia-type operations in London?" he said.