Source: Confederation of Passenger Transport
The fourth report from an independent industry-wide survey of bus
industry operating costs confirms a significant slowdown in the
rate of increase in the twelve months to February 2024. At the
same time, analysis of the figures suggests that a 10% increase
in bus speeds has the potential to deliver 135 million miles of
extra services each year at no extra cost.
The twice-yearly CPT Cost Monitor Report analyses industry
costs, examines operating costs per hour & kilometre, and
tracks movements over time. It also presents a range of
KPIs covering service provision, fleet utilisation, fuel
consumption, and staff productivity.
Commenting on the results Keith McNally, Operations Director at
the Confederation of Passenger Transport says,
“The latest data shows overall gross costs rose by 3.1% in the
year to February 2024 in Great Britain outside London. But that
translates into a real-term fall of 3.7% after adjustment for
inflation to December 2023 prices. This was a marked improvement
on the previous two years,” when costs had risen by over 16%
above inflation.
The report also highlights how the 7.6% increase in labour costs
during the year was a sign that the pressure on costs had not
gone away:
“Last year, those increases were offset by savings and efficiency
improvements elsewhere,” he added, “but we cannot assume that
such savings can always be achieved,” adds McNally.
The latest report also confirms that bus speeds remain low,
averaging just 11.7 mph across Great Britain outside London in
February 2024 (to allow for passenger boarding/alighting times
and because of delays due to traffic conditions). The analysis
highlights the close correlation between bus speed and driver
productivity (measured in terms of weekly kilometres run per
driver).
Speaking about this, Keith McNally says,
“If bus speeds could rise by just 10% - through giving buses
greater priority on our roads - then every driver could cover an
additional 34 miles every week. Given bus operators employ around
84,000 drivers, this alone could enable operators to provide an
additional 135 million miles of services each year at no extra
cost.
“This improvement could be delivered as extended hours of
operation, and more frequent or more weekend services as well as
new routes. In some areas, a 10% improvement in average
speed would help maintain routes where rising costs and changing
revenues threaten to make services unviable.”
CPT hopes the data provided by Cost Monitor will help inform
constructive discussions & negotiations between transport
authorities and bus operators about service levels,
inflationary increases applied to contract prices, and about how
to fund the future services passengers want.
