Bus and coach statistics Great Britain: 2000

Satisfaction and reliability

• Satisfaction with the overall level of bus service averaged nearly 80 per cent in England, in the quarter Oct-Dec 2000.
• On bus safety and security scored highest (86 per cent). Cleanliness of the vehicle externally scored better (82 per cent) than cleanliness internally (75 per cent).
• Information at the bus stop scored highly in London (71 per cent) but poorly outside London (54 per cent). This is probably because of the greater control of the bus stop and shelter environment by Transport for London.
• Satisfaction with bus service reliability averaged 63 per cent and value for money 72 per cent.
• Reliability is also measured in terms of the proportion of scheduled bus mileage lost each quarter against a target of 0.5 per cent.The latest figures, for Oct-Dec 2000, show that 2 per cent of scheduled mileage was lost in England, almost half of it because of staffing problems.
• In London, over 5 per cent of scheduled mileage was lost, half of it because of traffic congestion.

Bus passenger journeys

• The latest patronage data, to 31 March 2000, shows that passenger journeys on local bus services in Great Britain rose by one per cent over the previous year, to 4.3 billion journeys. In England, the rise was half of one per cent.
• The 10-Year Transport Plan target is to increase bus patronage by 10 per cent in England over the next decade. In England in the last decade there was a decline of 13 per cent. This contracts with an increase of 10 per cent in London over the same period. 

Local bus fares and other travel costs

• In 1999/00, local bus fares in Great Britain rose by two per cent in real terms on the previous year.
• Rail and local bus fares in GB have increased by more than a fifth in real terms over the last decade.
• Bus fares have increased most in London (28 per cent) and the English metropolitan areas (32 per cent) over the last decade.
• Private motoring costs, (including insurance and maintenance) have increased by 8 per cent over the last decade.

Passenger receipts, support and concessionary fares

• In Great Britain in 1999/00, passenger receipts for local bus services were £2.7 billion, almost unchanged from the previous year in real terms. Over the last decade, fare increases meant that receipts for local bus services have remained at about the same level in real terms.
• Passenger receipts for other (non-local) services were £1.3 billion in 1999/00, up 6 per cent in real terms on the previous year. The real increase over the decade has been 19 per cent, although vehicle kilometres have only increased by 2 per cent over the decade.
  Most local bus services are operated commercially. Less public transport support is provided than a decade ago, (£417 million then, at 1999/00 prices) compared to £294 million in 1999/00.
• Concessionary fare reimbursement, mainly for elderly and disabled people has declined gradually over the decade, in real terms. It was worth £443 million in 1999/00, down by 12% in real terms on 1989/90.
• Over the same period, fuel duty rebate has increased by 58 per cent, to £333 million in 1999/00.

 

Local bus operating costs and earnings

• Over the last decade, the average local bus service operating cost per vehicle kilometre in Great Britain has fallen from about £1.23 to 92 pence, in real terms. Real costs per passenger journey have fallen very slightly, and are still about 60 pence.
• Staff earnings have remained at a similar level, in real terms, to those of a decade ago, at about £290 a week.

 

Bus & coach stock and staff

• The average age of the bus and coach fleet was 8.5 years at the end of December 2000.
• Fleet age rose during the early 1990s, peaking at the end of 1994 at an average age of 10 years.
• A target has been set for the fleet to be no more than 8 years old by mid 2001. With the introduction of large numbers of new low floor buses in the last few years there has been progress towards the target.
• At the end of March 2000, bus and coach operators in Great Britain employed over 152,000 staff, 1 per cent more than in the previous year. Of these, 76 per cent were platform staff and 13 per cent were maintenance staff. Other staff, mainly in administration, accounted for 11 per cent.

Targets and monitoring

• DTLR has been monitoring bus service quality, in terms of passenger satisfaction, bus reliability and fleet age during 2000/01, following the Bus Summit in 1999. At the Summit the industry was encouraged to improve quality of service and grow the market, with specific targets for bus reliability, fleet age, and later, patronage. More information is available in DTLR's A Bulletin of Public Transport Statistics GB: 2000 Edition and in each quarterly Bus Quality Indicators Bulletin.

Further information: A companion fact sheet is produced on bus users, from National Travel Survey data. E-mail national.travelsurvey@dft.gov.uk for information concerning this NTS factsheet, or telephone 020 7944 3097.

For more information on this factsheet

Telephone 020 7944 3076 or E-mail bus.statistics@dft.gov.uk