New analysis from Labour reveals how bus fares are set to soar
over the next few years, while at the same time private companies
operating on bus routes are raking in billions of pounds.
The analysis comes as Labour Leader is set to meet today with
residents and community leaders in Derbyshire to discuss their
concerns over cuts to bus services.
Official Government statistics reveal that since 2010, fares have
risen faster than wages while passenger numbers have plummeted.
The new research reveals the state of the bus services commuters
are set to face in 2022:
-
· Average
fares are set to be 53 per cent higher in 2022 than in 2010 in
real terms
-
· Bus
passenger numbers are on course to be over 10 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 £3.3 billion in profit
since 2009/10.
Labour analysis published earlier this week revealed that bus
routes across the country are also projected to fall by over
5,000 by 2022.
Labour has plans to fix our broken bus industry by creating the
freedom for local authorities to form their own bus companies by
removing the Conservative Government’s ban and extending the
powers to re-regulate local bus services to all areas that want
them.
Labour are also committed to protecting free bus passes for
pensioners, improving disabled access to services and introducing
a new free bus pass for under 25s.
, Leader of the , speaking ahead of
his visit to Derbyshire, said:
“The Tories said privatisation would improve our buses but
private bus companies are running bus services into the ground,
while raking in billions of pounds in profit.
“Passengers now face a toxic mix of rising fares, cuts to
services and reduced access.
“Labour will act in the interests of the many by protecting
pensioners’ bus passes and introducing a new free pass for under
25s.
“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 29 per cent. Five
more years of growth at the current rate means fares would rise
to 53 per cent more than 2010 in real terms.
|
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 6
years
Used to project the next five years'
increases
|
|
2010
|
128.8
|
|
|
|
|
|
2011
|
135.7
|
105.3%
|
|
|
|
|
2012
|
144.0
|
111.8%
|
|
106.1%
|
|
|
2013
|
150.8
|
117.1%
|
|
104.7%
|
|
|
2014
|
155.5
|
120.7%
|
|
103.1%
|
|
|
2015
|
160.6
|
124.7%
|
|
103.3%
|
|
|
2016
|
163.4
|
126.9%
|
|
101.8%
|
|
|
2017
|
166.1
|
128.9%
|
|
101.6%
|
103.4%
|
|
extrapolated
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2018
|
171.8
|
133.3%
|
103.4%
|
103.4%
|
|
|
2019
|
177.7
|
137.9%
|
107.0%
|
103.4%
|
|
|
2020
|
183.8
|
142.7%
|
110.7%
|
103.4%
|
|
|
2021
|
190.1
|
147.6%
|
114.5%
|
103.4%
|
|
|
2022
|
196.7
|
152.6%
|
118.4%
|
103.4%
|
|
DfT, costs, fares and revenue bus statistics, Table BUS0405,
11 December 2018, https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/bus04-costs-fares-and-revenue
- 2. Bus fares have
gone up by twice as fast a wages
Median weekly wages grew by 14% between 2010 and 2018.
|
Year
|
Median (Gross, £)
|
Annual % change
|
|
2010
|
498.5
|
2.05
|
|
2011
|
500.7
|
0.44
|
|
2012
|
506.1
|
1.08
|
|
2013
|
517.4
|
2.23
|
|
2014
|
518.3
|
0.17
|
|
2015
|
527.1
|
1.7
|
|
2016
|
538.7
|
2.2
|
|
2017
|
550.4
|
2.2
|
|
2018
|
569
|
3.5
|
|
Year
|
% change
|
|
|
|
|
2010-2018
|
14
|
|
ONS, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2018, 25 October
2018, https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/bulletins/annualsurveyofhoursandearnings/2018
- 3. While fares are
rising, cumulative profits are rising, English bus operators have
made a total of £3.3 billion in profit since the Tories came to
power in 2010.
|
Year
|
England outside London Operating revenue at
2016/17 prices in £million
|
England outside London Operating cost at 2016/17
prices in £million
|
England outside London Operating profit per year
at 2016/17 prices in £million
|
England outside London cumulative Operating
profit at 2016/17 prices in £million
|
|
2010/11
|
3,788
|
3,185
|
603
|
603
|
|
2011/12
|
3,772
|
3,220
|
553
|
1,155
|
|
2012/13
|
3,666
|
3,177
|
488
|
1,644
|
|
2013/14
|
3,664
|
3,183
|
481
|
2,125
|
|
2014/15
|
3,583
|
3,160
|
423
|
2,548
|
|
2015/16
|
3,510
|
3,126
|
384
|
2,932
|
|
2016/17
|
3,423
|
3,026
|
396
|
3,328
|
DfT, costs, fares and revenue bus statistics, Tables BUS0406
& BUS0402, 11 December 2018, https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/bus04-costs-fares-and-revenue
- 4. Rising fares and
profit will come at time of ever worsening service. Over the past
eight years, 3,347 bus services have been reduced or withdrawn
according to the Campaign for Better Transport. This means the
average is 418 on a year have been cut.
Campaign for better transport, Buses in Crisis, p7,
2018, https://bettertransport.org.uk/sites/default/files/research-files/Buses-in-Crisis-2018_0.pdf
- 5. Labour analysis
published earlier this week revealed that at the current rate by
the end of the Parliament the Tory Government will have overseen
a reduction of over 5,000 bus routes.
|
Year
|
Cumulative cuts to bus routes
|
|
2010-2018
|
3347
|
|
extrapolated
|
|
|
2019
|
3765
|
|
2020
|
4183
|
|
2021
|
4601
|
|
2022
|
5019
|
Campaign for better transport, Buses in Crisis, p7,
2018, https://bettertransport.org.uk/sites/default/files/research-files/Buses-in-Crisis-2018_0.pdf
- 6. 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 2010/11 (%)
|
Change on previous year (%)
|
Average year on year change 2010/11
-2016/17
(Used to project the next five years' increases)
|
|
2010/11
|
2,349
|
|
|
|
|
2011/12
|
2,316
|
98.6%
|
98.6%
|
|
|
2012/13
|
2,256
|
96.0%
|
97.4%
|
|
|
2013/14
|
2,289
|
97.4%
|
101.5%
|
|
|
2014/15
|
2,264
|
96.4%
|
98.9%
|
|
|
2015/16
|
2,215
|
94.3%
|
97.9%
|
|
|
2016/17
|
2,198
|
93.6%
|
99.2%
|
98.9%
|
|
extrapolated
|
|
|
|
|
|
2017/18
|
2,174
|
92.5%
|
98.9%
|
|
|
2018/19
|
2,150
|
91.5%
|
98.9%
|
|
|
2019/20
|
2,126
|
90.5%
|
98.9%
|
|
|
2020/21
|
2,103
|
89.5%
|
98.9%
|
|
|
2021/22
|
2,080
|
88.5%
|
98.9%
|
|
DfT, local bus passenger journeys, bus statistics, Tables
BUS0103, 11 December 2018, https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/bus01-local-bus-passenger-journeys
- 7. These cuts are
hitting the regions in the north and midlands particularly hard
|
Year
|
Passenger journeys on local bus services in the
North East (in millions)
|
percentage drop
|
Passenger journeys on local bus services in the
North West (in millions)
|
percentage drop
|
Passenger journeys on local bus services in the
Yorkshire and the Humber (in millions)
|
percentage drop
|
|
2010/11
|
206
|
|
457
|
|
358
|
|
|
2016/17
|
176
|
|
408
|
|
322
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
7 year average decrease
|
4
|
|
7
|
|
5
|
|
|
extrapolated
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2017/18
|
171
|
|
402
|
|
317
|
|
|
2018/19
|
167
|
|
395
|
|
311
|
|
|
2019/20
|
163
|
|
388
|
|
306
|
|
|
2020/21
|
159
|
|
381
|
|
301
|
|
|
2021/22
|
154
|
25%
|
374
|
18%
|
296
|
17%
|
|
Year
|
Passenger journeys on local bus services in the
West Midlands (in millions)
|
percentage drop
|
Passenger journeys on local bus services in the
East Midlands (in millions)
|
percentage drop
|
Passenger journeys on local bus services in the
London (in millions)
|
percentage drop
|
|
2010/11
|
215
|
|
380
|
|
2,269
|
|
|
2016/17
|
196
|
|
332
|
|
2,240
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
7 year average decrease
|
3
|
|
7
|
|
4
|
|
|
extrapolated
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2017/18
|
193
|
|
325
|
|
2,236
|
|
|
2018/19
|
191
|
|
318
|
|
2,232
|
|
|
2019/20
|
188
|
|
311
|
|
2,228
|
|
|
2020/21
|
185
|
|
304
|
|
2,224
|
|
|
2021/22
|
183
|
15%
|
297
|
22%
|
2,220
|
2%
|
|
Year
|
Passenger journeys on local bus services in the
South East (in millions)
|
percentage drop
|
Passenger journeys on local bus services in the
South West (in millions)
|
percentage drop
|
Passenger journeys on local bus services in
England (in millions)
|
percentage drop
|
|
2010/11
|
338
|
|
206
|
|
4,619
|
|
|
2016/17
|
356
|
|
220
|
|
4,438
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
7 year average decrease
|
-3
|
|
-2
|
|
26
|
|
|
extrapolated
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2017/18
|
359
|
|
223
|
|
4,412
|
|
|
2018/19
|
361
|
|
225
|
|
4,387
|
|
|
2019/20
|
364
|
|
227
|
|
4,361
|
|
|
2020/21
|
366
|
|
229
|
|
4,335
|
|
|
2021/22
|
369
|
-9%
|
231
|
-12%
|
4,309
|
-12%
|
DfT, local bus passenger journeys, bus statistics, Tables
BUS0108, 11 December 2018, https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/bus01-local-bus-passenger-journeys
|
Year
|
Elderly and disabled concessionary 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)
|
|
2010/11
|
842
|
|
|
|
|
2011/12
|
843
|
100.16%
|
100.16%
|
|
|
2012/13
|
814
|
96.67%
|
96.51%
|
|
|
2013/14
|
816
|
96.95%
|
100.29%
|
|
|
2014/15
|
798
|
94.81%
|
97.79%
|
|
|
2015/16
|
766
|
91.00%
|
95.99%
|
|
|
2016/17
|
751
|
89.23%
|
98.05%
|
98.13%
|
|
extrapolated
|
|
|
|
|
|
2017/18
|
737
|
87.56%
|
98.13%
|
|
|
2018/19
|
723
|
85.92%
|
98.13%
|
|
|
2019/20
|
710
|
84.32%
|
98.13%
|
|
|
2020/21
|
696
|
82.74%
|
98.13%
|
|
|
2021/22
|
683
|
81.20%
|
98.13%
|
|
DfT, costs, fares and revenue bus statistics, Tables BUS0105,
11 December 2018, https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/bus01-local-bus-passenger-journeys
- 8. Labour’s better
plan: Labour will overturn the Government’s ban on council-owned
bus companies as part of a wider strategy to put the public back
into buses and deliver affordable, greener, and accessible
transport. A Labour Government would:
- o Create freedom for local authorities to
form their own bus companies by removing this Tory Government’s
ban.
- o Extend the powers to re-regulate local bus
services to all areas that want them – not just to combined
authorities with an elected mayor.
- o Fund free bus travel for under 25 year
olds across the country.
- o Require all new buses to meet the
low-emission requirements set out by the Government-sponsored
Office for Low Emission Vehicles.
- o Require new vehicles to be equipped with
Wi-Fi, and install Wi-Fi on existing buses.
- o Introduce a national strategy for local
bus services, setting out objectives, targets and funding
provisions. This would include consideration of a reduced fare
scheme for young people aged 16-19.
- o Require all bus drivers and staff at bus
terminals to complete approved disability equality and awareness
training, including mental and physical disabilities, by a
specific date.
- o Ensure bus services in England make
adjustments for any disabled passenger on the bus including
policies for priority wheelchair spaces.
