Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect on the number of bus journeys made in the year to March 2019 of the increase in bus fares during that period.

There are a variety of reasons for the fall in bus patronage. This includes congestion, affecting bus service reliability and punctuality, which industry leaders have remarked upon publicly last week as one of the key issues impacting on bus patronage. That is why the Department’s ‘A Better Deal for Bus Users’ published recently stated that all new road investments receiving central UK government funding will be required to either support bus priority measures to improve bus journey times and reliability or explain why doing so would not be necessary or appropriate in that instance. All future funding bids will need to explicitly address this issue.

In addition, the Bus Services Act 2017 provides the tools local authorities in England need such as Enhanced Partnerships and Franchising to improve local bus services. From 2020, a number of measures such as Bus Open Data powers, and the commitments in the Better Deal for Bus Users, will help increase passenger numbers and help passengers secure best value tickets.