Further increases to business taxes will see cuts in bus service provision as it becomes “too expensive to deliver,” the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) has warned ahead of the autumn Budget on 26 November.
The increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions that came into effect on 1 April has cost the coach and bus industry around £900 per driver, per year and represented a £100 million bill for the sector as a whole, CPT says.
It adds that a combination of national minimum wage increases placing upwards pressure on pay across the board and typical rates for bus drivers having risen by nearly 30% across the last three years has also challenges the sector’s financial stability.
In England, that is furthered by the national bus fare cap. Reimbursement to participating operators is via a settlement with the Department for Transport but there is no certainty over individual allocations for 2026.
CPT says that operators have worked to absorb additional costs but that that no further scope to do so exists without bus service cuts. Chief Executive Graham Vidler notes how the mode is imperative to driving economic growth, with anything jeopardising that being “a retrograde step.”
He adds that any further fiscal shock via the forthcoming Budget “would leave operators with no choice but to cut services, which would be felt by bus passengers up and down the country.”
The Confederation acknowledges positive work earlier in 2025 to recognise the importance of bus services, but in a pre-Budget submission it argues for adequate funding to enable “full reimbursement” of the national fare cap in England and for a target to improve bus speeds nationwide by 10%.
The latter would unlock commercial investment in improved services, CPT says. It has long sought the 10% increase, having previously highlighted productivity gains from delivering it that would enable bus drivers to cover an average 34 miles per week more.
Also within the trade body’s Budget submission is a call for the coach industry to receive a fair share of zero-emission infrastructure, including charging points for battery-electric vehicles.
On top of that should come research and development funding to enable an equitable transition to environmentally friendly technology “for all parts of the transport sector,” CPT adds.
