Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many new bus routes have been created in (a) 2019, (b) 2020 and (c) 2021.

Changes to bus services are notified to the Traffic Commissioners. The Traffic Commissioners Annual Report for 2020-21 has not yet been published; the latest available report covers 2019-2020. The latest published data from the Traffic Commissioners regarding the number of new registrations can be found online at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/traffic-commissioners-annual-reports

The numbers of new and/or cancelled registrations will not be the same as the number of starts and/or cessations of bus services. A registration that is cancelled may be complemented by a new service introduction that is an exact match or a slight variation to the one which has been cancelled.