hire counties' poor bus record'
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%SPORT Secretary William Rodgers yes that there will be improvements =try bus services — but, he warned yeek, if he is wrong the problem will to be looked at again.
Rodgers bases his hope on the fact in 1977-78 about E34m was being . on revenue support in shire counbut the figure has since risen to t E45m.
was answering criticism in the mons about Tory controlled shire ties which, it was claimed, would not 1 money on buses.
n Lewis (Labour, Carlisle) said there low a serious danger that the White r proposals for increased spending .ral buses would not be met. He laid blame on many of the Tory nated shire counties, which would ake the initiative.
Rodgers agreed that a number of counties had a very poor record in ort for their buses. He was still ful for their redemption, however, Ltse there was a powerful case for Dying public transport everywhere, but particularly in rural areas.
John Farr (Tory, Harborough) noted that the situation was rapidly changing with the escalating cost of fuel, which meant that many people living in country areas were virtually cut off from public transport.
The Minister told him that there was an attempt to remedy the considerable deterioration in rural public transport by the provision for extra spending on public transport and by the Transport Act 1978. Roger Moate (Tory, Faversham) said that whatever Government schemes were introduced, the local authorities still had to find about 40 per cent of the total cost of bus support schemes.
If Mr Rodgers was right in asserting that what we were concerned with ultimately was service to the public, and not subsidy, something else should be done.
Was it not more important to relax the licensing system so that one could get improved services in those remote rural areas which at present perhaps had no bus service at all, asked Mr Moate.