Rutland loses 67% of bus service provision since 2011
New research has found bus provision in every region in England has decreased
Last updated 22nd Feb 2024
New research looking at the drop in local bus service provision across the country shows Rutland is one of the worst-hit regions, with local services decreasing by two-thirds (67%) since 2011.
The figures, revealed by Channel 4's FactCheck, show England on the whole has lost 28% of local bus provision since then, when taking into account population increase.
Rutland is the third worst-affected region, behind only Shropshire and Slough which lost 68% and 70% of local bus provision respectively.
London (-13%), the South East (-20%) and the South West (-27%) were the least-affected regions, but still saw a reduction in local bus miles per person between 2011 and 2023.
To calculate the figures, Department of Transport bus mileage figures were compared with population estimates published by the Office of National Statistics.
Rutland County Council said: “Rutland has seen changes to some of its bus routes over the past 10 years. Rising costs with no additional funding has forced us to prioritise services, including reducing a two-bus service to a single-bus service on one of our longer routes. We have also taken several local bus services in-house and are now running these free of charge for passengers because operators sought to vary their contracts.
“We believe these changes, coupled with some incomplete data reporting from bus operators, are responsible for the drop in bus kilometres travelled shown in this report. However, bus usage in Rutland remains positive, with passenger numbers rising to more than 146,000 between 2022 and 2023 – an increase of 16%."
Responding to the findings, a Department of Transport spokesperson said: “Bus usage is still much lower than 2019 levels, but thanks to the Government investment of over £3.5 billion of support since the pandemic, we have prevented reductions to services across the country.
“Thanks to reallocated HS2 funding, we’ve extended the £2 fare cap to encourage people back onto the buses and committed a further £1 billion to improve services across the North and Midlands.”