Bus patronage across the country continued to increase this year, according to a report by the Confederation of Passenger Transport.
The report On the move 2006, released this week, shows the number of bus trips taken last year hit 4.6bn, more than double the combined figure for rail, tram and London’s Tube. This is an increase of 8.92% across the last six years and an increase of 1% on last year.
As expected, London once again performed strongly. The report puts this down to ‘unique transport conditions’ making the bus the only viable option for many commuters. And on the whole, urban areas have seen an increase in patronage but rural areas, where investment has been made, such as in Cornwall, have also seen increases.
The report goes on to claim this growth would increase with the introduction of more bus-priority measures and identifies Bristol, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool and Tyne and Wear as areas where this would help. Passenger numbers are increasing and journey times have improved in York, Cambridge, Brighton, Edinburgh and parts of Manchester and Leeds due to the priority measures, the report says.
This year saw the distance passengers travelled increase by a total of 23.5bn kilometres, an increase of 500M, which is also a 10-year high.
Gillian Merron, parliamentary under secretary of state for transport, said: ‘Passengers want more frequent services that are safe, clean and accessible at a fair price. If the bus industry can deliver across the country, then it is win-win.’ Commenting on the report Jonathan Bray, assistant director of the Passenger Transport Executive Group’s support unit said: ‘We do need more bus priority – but we also need better regulation of services.’
• On the move : www.cpt-uk.org/documents/On%20The%20Move.pdf