Local Transport Bill [Lords]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Wimbledon (Stephen Hammond), a fellow London MP. We enjoy excellent bus services in this great capital city, courtesy of TFL and on behalf of Mayor Livingstone and the citizens of London, in contrast to the various bus experiences that we have heard from hon. Members from different parts of the country. This has been an interesting and wide-ranging debate on important legislation. As has been said, the purpose of the Bill is to empower local authorities not only to transform local transport in their areas but to provide transport that is better designed around the needs of their communities. Many right hon. and hon. Members have spoken about the importance of buses to their constituents and the progress that has been made in the past decade on reversing the downward trend in patronage that this Government inherited in 1997.