Local bus statistics for Great Britain, including passenger numbers, mileage and vehicle fleet data for the year ending March 2021 have been released by the Department for Transport.
In the year ending March 2021, the figures show number of bus passenger journeys decreased by 61% in England, decreased by 59% in London and decreased by 64% in England outside of London. In the same period, bus service mileage decreased by 16% across England, by 2% in London and by 21% in England outside of London.
As of March 2021, 99% of buses in England had the accessibility certificate which was required for all buses operating local services by 2017 at the latest.
The summary relates only to England to match the coverage of the Department for Transport bus policy, but the tables covering Scotland and Wales and the full documents can be viewed at gov.uk/government/collections/bus-statistics.
A spokesperson for the Confederation of Passenger Transport, in response to the statistics, said: “Although Government messaging has unfairly singled out public transport during the pandemic demand for bus travel has bounced back more quickly than other forms of public transport, now reaching 80% of pre-pandemic levels. Operators are continuing to work with local authorities and others to give customers the confidence to travel helping deliver the Government’s ambitions for a stronger economy, decarbonisation and levelling up.
“To see passenger numbers grow beyond the 10 million journeys per day before the pandemic, we need the ambition in the bus and net zero strategies matched by a proactive and positive message from Government to encourage people back onto the bus. We also need sufficient funding for buses to avoid a two-tier system where investment in the biggest regions means smaller cities and towns are starved of investment for the priorities they have developed with operators to improve services.”
