Thousands of bus services axed under Conservatives, as Labour outlines plan to fix broken system
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Shock new figures reveal thousands of bus services have been axed
under the Conservatives, as Labour today (Friday 28 April) pledges
the first steps in the biggest bus overhaul in decades. Despite the
Conservatives promising services that “run so often you wouldn’t
need a timetable”, in 2022 the total number of miles driven by
buses plummeted by 175 million compared to 2016, with over 1,000
services lost in the last year alone. Meanwhile fares surged by
51%,...Request free trial
Shock new figures reveal thousands of bus services have been axed under the Conservatives, as Labour today (Friday 28 April) pledges the first steps in the biggest bus overhaul in decades. Despite the Conservatives promising services that “run so often you wouldn’t need a timetable”, in 2022 the total number of miles driven by buses plummeted by 175 million compared to 2016, with over 1,000 services lost in the last year alone. Meanwhile fares surged by 51%, almost twice as fast as wages since 2010 putting huge pressure on passengers. Today, Labour will announce the first steps in plans to reform the country’s broken bus system and hand power and control to local communities. On a visit to Stoke-on-Trent, which has seen one of the highest falls in bus numbers in the country, the Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh will vow the biggest reform to the bus sector in 40 years. Britain is one of the only countries in the developed world where bus operators have the power to set routes and fares, with no say for local communities. Labour will end this broken system and hand power and control to local communities through the Take Back Control Act in the first King’s Speech of a Labour government. This bold plan would represent the first steps in the biggest reform to the bus sector in a generation and put communities firmly back in control of the services they depend on. Louise Haigh MP, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, said: “The millions that depend on our buses are being failed.” “Communities are facing a crisis – and the out-of-touch Tories simply don’t get it.” “Labour will fix our broken bus system – and we’ll do it by giving power and control of bus services to the communities who depend on them.” Ends Notes: Labour’s plan to fix Britain’s broken bus system: Labour’s bold plan for change would represent the first steps in the biggest reform to the bus sector in a generation and put communities firmly back in control of the public transport they depend on. Decades of failed deregulation have left communities with little say over the essential services they rely on. It has handed operators enormous power to raise fares and slash routes, and in many cases cut communities off altogether. As a result bus usage has almost halved outside of London, and many towns and rural areas are forced to rely on a shockingly bad, unaffordable service. Labour’s bold plans would give every community the power over local bus services, taking control over routes and fares out of the hands of private operators and handing it to local communities. Labour’s bus reform plan would do three things:
Bus route numbers across England
Every area of the country is being hit, but London – which has a regulated bus system – is the least affected:
Source: Calculations based on data in https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/bus-statistics-data-tables#local-bus-vehicle-distance-travelled-bus02 (tab: BUS02c_mi, Total)
Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/bus-statistics-data-tables#local-bus-vehicle-distance-travelled-bus02 (tab: BUS02a_mi, Total) And fares have risen dramatically, twice as fast as wages: Over the last 12 years the Tories have presided over a broken bus market. Bus fares have risen by 45 per cent.
2010 to 2022’s figures are taken from DfT, costs, fares and revenue bus statistics, Table BUS04i, January 2023, https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/bus-statistics-data-tables |