Labour slams shocking decline in local bus routes, as new figures show services have halved since 2010

Labour has today revealed shocking new statistics that show local bus routes in England have declined by 50 per cent since 2010, with more than 8,000 services slashed.

That includes a loss of more than 2,000 bus routes in the last year alone, with overall routes declining 20 per cent from 2022 to 2023.

The West Midlands has been the hardest hit region in England, with over two thirds of local bus services lost since 2010.

This trend is set to get worse still. In March, the government confirmed it would reduce support for bus services by 23 per cent, which would see almost 400 more services lost based on estimates from the Confederation of Passenger Transport.

Previous analysis from Labour revealed that in 2022 the total number of miles driven by buses plummeted by 175 million compared to 2016.

Labour will fix Britain’s broken bus system by putting control over services back into the hands of the communities that depend on them.

Labour’s bus reform plan would do three things:

• Allow communities to take back control of bus services: Labour would give all local transport authorities the power to take back control of bus services, extending the opportunity to franchise services to every community (currently only available to metro mayors). Smaller local transport authorities will be offered expert advice and support to assist with the path towards franchising services, with the Bus Directorate in the Department for Transport refocussed to deliver support to local transport authorities.

• Lower the legal hurdles to franchising with a presumption in favour of franchising to end the costly and time-consuming hurdles which delay much needed reform, and prevent communities from having a say in how their bus services are run.

• Lift the legal ban on municipal bus ownership introduced by the Conservatives in 2017 following intensive lobbying by vested interests. This would allow communities that want to establish their own municipal bus network, building on the success of areas like Nottingham City Council which has the highest satisfaction ratings in the country.

Louise Haigh MP, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, said:

“The staggering decline in local bus services under this Government is nothing short of vandalism against our communities.

“Millions of people rely on these essential services, but they are being left without a voice as routes are cut back year after year.

“Labour’s plans will put passengers first by allowing communities to take back control over their bus services.”

Ends

Notes:

Local bus service figures Since 2010:

Routes lost since 2010: 8,613 (-50%)

Routes lost from 2021/22 to 2022/23: 2,160 (-20%)

Regional local bus services figures:

Miles driven by buses in England:

Source: 
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/bus-statistics-data-tables#local-bus-vehicle-distance-travelled-bus02 (tab: BUS02a_mi, Total)

Buses are the most used mode of public transport in England – with 2.8 billion passenger journeys made by bus in 2021/22: 
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-bus-statistics-year-ending-march-2022/annual-bus-statistics-year-ending-march-2022

Over the six month period from October 2022 to March 2023, the Bus Recovery Grant provided £130m: 
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/130-million-to-protect-bus-services-across-the-country

The funding to ‘support services’ announced by the Government in March was £300m over eighteen months, an implied reduction of approximately 23% in existing funding to support services.

This amounts to less than that which the Confederation of Passenger Transport said was necessary to keep services at current levels (which would need £260m over 12 months, or see 15% of services or over 1,600 lost): : https://www.cpt-uk.org/news/bus-passengers-to-be-cut-adrift-if-long-term-funding-from-government-isn-t-found/

On these industry calculations 23% of the 1,640 at-risk routes is 377 additional routes.