Annual bus statistics: year ending March 2023 (revised)
Annual statistics on local buses in Great Britain for the year ending March 2023.
Applies to England, Scotland and Wales
Documents
Details
Revision
Finalised data on government support for buses was not available when these statistics were originally published (30 November 2023). The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) have since published that data so the following have been revised to include this newly available data:
-
the financial outlook in this publication
-
tables BUS04i and BUS04ii covering costs, fares and revenue
-
tables BUS05i and BUS05ii covering government support
There is more than one source available for figures on concessionary travel spending. In the concessionary travel statistics, the expenditure figures are based on the Concessionary Travel survey.
Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You are welcome to contact us directly by emailing bus statistics with any comments about how we meet these standards.
Operating costs
Ahead of the year ending March 2023 publication an inconsistency was identified in the way respondents were reporting total operating costs on local bus services (question 12). Some operators were reporting operating costs before the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) has been deducted and others were reporting them after BSOG had been deducted. The guidance states that these figures should be reported before BSOG has been deducted. This means that there has been inconsistency with this data historically, and it has typically been underreported as some operators have deducted their BSOG rebate from costs.
Additional work has been undertaken in the year ending March 2023 publication to highlight the guidance to operators and check during the validation process if they are reporting in line with the guidance, although we cannot be 100% certain all figures have been supplied as requested. This means the year ending March 2023 data is not directly comparable with earlier years. We will continue to make this a focus of our data validation process.
Local bus statistics in Great Britain, including passengers, mileage, and vehicle fleet, for the year ending March 2023.
The summary relates only to England to match the coverage of Department for Transport bus policy, but the tables also cover Scotland and Wales.
In the year ending March 2023, the number of bus passenger journeys:
- increased by 19.3% in England
- increased by 19.6% in London
- increased by 19.0% in England outside of London
In the year ending March 2023, bus service mileage:
- decreased by 4.6% in England
- decreased by 3.4% in London
- decreased by 5.1% in England outside of London
This publication covers the year to 31 March 2023, which is the first time since the coronavirus (COVID-19) where restrictions and guidelines were not in place.
Contact us:
Bus statistics
To hear more about DfT statistical publications as they are released, follow us on X (formerly known as Twitter) at DfTstats.
Last updated 19 March 2024 + show all updates
-
Update to annual bus statistics, year ending March 2023, to include financial data.
-
First published.