Drop of 14 million bus journeys in five years

The number of bus journeys made in Tyne and Wear has fallen by 14million in five years, according to new figures.

Department for Transport data shows that 106m buspassengerjourneyswere madeintheareaintheyearto March this year – down from 120m in 2014-15, a 12% drop.

That means the average resident took 7.7 local bus journeys a month, compared to 8.9 in 2014-15andthenumber of miles clocked by buses fell from 47.8m to 42.4m miles.

Nationally, there were 4.1billion bus journeys taken in 2019-20, down 6% from 2018-19 and 12% from 201415.

The DfT says the number of journeys was impacted by Covid-19 restrictions, but added the five-year trend did show there was "more that can be done to deliver reliableandregularbusservices.” In Tyne and Wear, watchdog group Transport Focus carried out survey of bus users at the end of last year.

Itfound92%ofuserswere satisfied with local services, including64%whowerehappy with the level of fares. The Campaign for Better Transport, a pressure group, said the annual statistics show route cuts and rising fares were “hitting communities hard, long before the pandemic". Head of media Alice Ridley said: "Travelling by public transport must be affordable and convenient to avoid car journeys escalatingandnon-driversbeingexcluded."

The DfT spokeswoman said: “This will build on our significant investment, which includes more than £900m of emergency funding to keep buses moving throughout the pandemic."