- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 7 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether consideration has been given under the renewal of the Scottish passenger rail franchise to more than one provider delivering services throughout Scotland.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is considering a range of options for taking the Scottish passenger rail franchise forward after 2004 to ensure the best value for money. The Executive believes that what is needed is more rather than less integration of Scottish rail services, and that letting the next franchise to more than one operator could lead to fragmentation of services.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 7 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it will give to the cross-ownership of public transport services by potential tenderers for the Scottish rail passenger franchise.
Answer
This is one of a wide range of issues that will be considered during the evaluation of bids received for the Scottish rail passenger franchise.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 7 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what policy initiatives are being considered to reduce the costs to passengers of rail travel between Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Answer
Where ticket prices are not regulated by the Strategic Rail Authority they are for the Train Operating Company to determine. However, the process for the letting of the next Scottish passenger rail franchise will give bidders the opportunity to come forward with ways of reducing the costs to passengers of all rail travel, including that between Glasgow and Edinburgh.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 7 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what efforts will be made to encourage tenderers for the renewal of the Scottish rail passenger franchise to come forward with innovative schemes to improve the rapidity and reliability of rail services, especially on the Edinburgh to Glasgow route.
Answer
The refranchising process will provide an opportunity for all tenderers for the renewal of the Scottish rail passenger franchise to come forward with innovative schemes in their bids to improve the rapidity and reliability of all rail services, including on the Edinburgh to Glasgow route.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 7 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether East of Scotland Water contravened drinking water guidelines in the EH9 postcode area in the last year and, if so, how many times any such contraventions occurred and what the cause was of each such contravention.
Answer
Data provided by Scottish Water concerning the drinking water quality results for the water supply zones covering postcode area EH9 during 2001 indicated that there were no breaches of the drinking water regulations for that postcode in 2001.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 7 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what its options are in regard to ensuring greater consistency in public transport fares throughout Scotland.
Answer
Across all modes of public transport the underlying principle is that fares should reflect journey costs, be paid by those making the journeys and be determined by transport operators. However, the Scottish Executive's Rural Transport Fund provides support for certain scheduled bus and ferry services that would otherwise not operate or operate at considerably higher fares, while the Executive also provides subsidy support for lifeline air and ferry services in the Highlands and Islands.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 7 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what financial incentives and penalties are being considered in the context of the renewal of the Scottish rail passenger franchise to ensure that passengers receive better value for money rail services.
Answer
The next Scottish rail passenger franchise will be subject to the Strategic Rail Authority's performance regime.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 7 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether targets will be set for reducing average journey times between Glasgow and Edinburgh by (a) rail and (b) motor vehicles.
Answer
We have no such targets.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 7 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what research has been undertaken to study any link between the affordability of rail travel and passenger numbers.
Answer
A wide range of publicly available research into the determinants of rail demand has been undertaken by academic and other interests. In addition, the rail industry has undertaken a large amount of commercial-in-confidence research.
- Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 7 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to improve the access to the Glasgow Prestwick International Airport and the affordability of public transport to the airport from all areas of Scotland.
Answer
Passengers to and from Glasgow Prestwick International Airport are able to benefit from lower cost rail and bus travel through the airport's partnership arrangements with Strathclyde Passenger Transport and Scotrail, and with Stagecoach and Scottish Citylink. The Scottish Executive has no plans to enhance those arrangements. Completion of the proposed M77 between Newton Mearns and Fenwick will benefit passengers travelling to and from the airport by road.
