‘Buses in crisis’ say transport campaigners

PUBLIC transport campaigners have warned that “buses are in crisis” after new analysis showed journeys are at a 12-year low.

Latest Department for Transport figures show 1.2 billion local bus journeys were made between April and June in Britain.

This represents a 10% decrease since the peak of 1.33 billion between July and September 2008.

Demand for bus travel has not been this low since the beginning of 2006, according to Press Association analysis. The 10% reduction in journeys since the summer of 2008 has coincided with a 55% increase in average fares.

A recent study by the Campaign for Better Transport (CBT) found that funding for supported buses has almost halved in the past eight years, leaving many areas without public transport.

Local authority bus budgets in Wales and England were slashed by £20.5m last year – the eighth consecutive annual cut.

CBT chief executive Darren Shirley urged the Government to use its October 29 Budget to halt the “trend of cutting support” for buses.

A Government spokeswoman said: “While local authorities are best-placed to decide how to provide supported bus services, we provide around £250m every year to support bus services and a further £1bn to support older and disabled people using the free bus pass scheme, benefiting people up and down the country.”