Over 3,000 bus routes cut in last decade as 40% of local funding is slashed
Over 3,000 local bus routes have been lost or reduced over the past decade, according to a new study from The Campaign for Better Transport.
The report found that local authority funding had fallen by more than 40% (£163m lower) over that same timeframe, while central government funding had shrunk by 19% alongside. That means that national government spending on bus services was down by £234m over the past 10 years.
The Campaign for Better Transport said it had identified "a picture of incoherent and shrinking funding, resulting in degraded or lost services and increasing fares."
The group said the service cuts had led to "poverty and social exclusion".
"Reductions in funding to support bus services has consequences," the campaign group's boss, Darren Shirley, said.
"It leads to isolation and social exclusion and hinders access to employment, education and training as people find it more difficult and costly to travel."
“The people who are worst affected are those who are most reliant: those on lower incomes, the elderly, students,” he added.
More people travel on buses than on any other kind of public transport, but their use outside London has been on a downward trend, falling to 2.13bn journeys in 2017-18 after the most recent peak of 2.41bn was reached in 2008-9.