Passengers face higher fares and further cuts to routes as Tories run bus services into the ground, says Andy McDonald

Thursday, 3 August 2017 00:01

Labour analysis reveals how bus services have been hammered by the Conservatives, with the threat of more to come. Since 2010 fares have risen faster than wages, services have been slashed and passenger numbers have plummeted, meanwhile private companies have accrued higher profits. New analysis reveals the state of the bus services commuters are set to face in 2022: Average fares are set to be 59 per cent higher than in 2010. Bus routes are projected to fall by nearly...Request free trial

New analysis reveals the state of the bus services commuters are set to face in 2022:

Average fares are set to be 59 per cent higher than in 2010.
Bus routes are projected to fall by nearly 5,000 by 2022.
Bus passenger numbers are on course to be 13 per cent lower than they were when the Tories came to power. Elderly and disabled passenger numbers are set to fall by nearly 20 per cent.
This comes at a time of growing profits for private bus companies. English bus operators have made a total of £1.6 billion in profit since 2009/10.

Labour will fix our broken bus industry. We will:

Create the freedom for local authorities to form their own bus companies by removing the Conservative Government’s ban.
Extend the powers to re-regulate local bus services to all areas that want them.
Protect free bus passes for pensioners and improve disabled access to services.

Andy McDonald, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, said:

“The Tories said deregulation would improve our buses but they are running the bus services into the ground. Passengers now face a toxic mix of rising fares, cuts to services and reduced access. Meanwhile, private companies are coining it in with growing profits.

“Enough is enough. Labour will rescue bus services. We will give councils the freedom to run first class bus services which the public are proud of.

“For too long the bus industry has put profit for a few before millions of passengers. A future Labour Government will change that.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

1. Over the last five years the Tories have presided over a broken bus market. Fares have risen, services have been cut and passenger numbers have fallen. With no action to remedy this on the horizon, new Labour analysis – projecting forward recent trends until 2022 – shows that this is set to continue.

Under the Tories bus fares have already risen 27 per cent. Five more years of growth at the current rate means fares would see fares rise to 59 per cent more than 2010.

Year	England local bus fares index	Cumulative increase between 2010-2022	Cumulative increase between 2017-2022	Year on year percentage increase	Average year on year increase of the past 5 years Used to project the next five years' increases
2010	128.84
2011	135.71	105.3%
2012	144.04	111.8%		106.1%
2013	150.81	117.1%		104.7%
2014	155.48	120.7%		103.1%
2015	160.61	124.7%		103.3%
2016	163.48	126.9%		101.8%	103.8%
extrapolated
2017	169.70	131.7%
2018	176.15	136.7%	103.8%	103.8%
2019	182.85	141.9%	107.8%	103.8%
2020	189.81	147.3%	111.9%	103.8%
2021	197.03	152.9%	116.1%	103.8%
2022	204.52	158.7%	120.5%	103.8%

DfT, costs, fares and revenue bus statistics, Table BUS0405 14 March 2017, https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/bus04-costs-fares-and-revenue

2. While fares are rising, operating costs are falling, while revenue and profits are rising.

Year	England outside London Operating revenue at 2015/16 prices in £million	England outside London Operating cost at 2015/16 prices in £million	England outside London Operating profit per year at 2015/16 prices in £million	England outside London cumulative Operating profit at 2015/16 prices in £million
2009/10	3144	3,135	9	9
2010/11	3197	3,101	96	105
2011/12	3295	3,122	173	278
2012/13	3317	3,100	217	495
2013/14	3436	3,098	338	833
2014/15	3466	3,066	400	1,233
2015/16	3431	3,052	379	1,612

DfT, costs, fares and revenue bus statistics, Tables BUS0406 & BUS0402 14 March 2017,https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/bus04-costs-fares-and-revenue

3. Rising fares and profit will come at time of ever worsening service. Over the past six years on average 400 bus routes a year have been cut according to the Campaign for Better Transport.

“Since 2010, local authorities in England and Wales have cut £78 million in funding and over 2,400 routes have been reduced or withdrawn altogether.”

Campaign for better transport, Buses in Crisis, p5, 13 March 2017, http://www.bettertransport.org.uk/sites/default/files/research-files/buses-in-crisis-2015.pdf

4. On the assumption that is over the period 2009/10 to 2015/16, this is an average of 400 a year. At the current rate by the end of the Parliament the Tory Government will have overseen a reduction of nearly 5,000 bus routes.

Year	Cumulative cuts to bus routes
2009/10-2015/16	2400
extrapolated
2016/17	2800
2017/18	3200
2018/19	3600
2019/20	4000
2020/21	4400
2021/22	4800

Campaign for better transport, Buses in Crisis, p5, 13 March 2017, http://www.bettertransport.org.uk/sites/default/files/research-files/buses-in-crisis-2015.pdf

5. Higher fares and cuts to bus routes have seen a decline in the number passengers using local bus services in England outside of London. There has been a reduction of seven per cent since 2010 and at the current rate that figure could reach 13 per cent by 2022.

Year	Passenger journeys on local bus services in England outside London in millions	Change since 2009/10 (%)	Change on previous year (%)	Average year on year change 2009/10 -2015/16 (Used to project the next five years' increases)
2009/10	2,397
2010/11	2,372	98.96%	98.96%
2011/12	2,337	97.51%	98.54%
2012/13

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