Coach and bus traffic in Great Britain fell by 12.3% in 2022 compared to 2019, newly published figures from the Department for Transport (DfT) show in confirming research from elsewhere.
The data, which estimates traffic by vehicle type, reveal cars to have a 75% share, with coaches and buses at 1%.
While coach and bus traffic bounced back from pandemic restrictions with a 14.4% rise last year compared to the previous 12 months, the statistics confirm the fall in use since the mid-Noughties continues. Car traffic was 7.2% down in 2022 from 2019 levels.
DfT figures give 2.1 billion vehicle miles in 2022 for coach and bus. This was against 2.4 billion in 2019, 1.6 billion in 2020 and 1.8 billion in 2021.
Last year, coach and bus traffic came closest to matching 2019 levels in March and November. The volume was between 7% and 17% lower than the levels for the equivalent months in 2019.
Split for road type, 52% of all coach and bus miles were on “minor roads”, 42% on A roads and 7% on motorways.
Historical figures indicate coach and bus vehicle miles reached a peak of 3.3 billion during several years in the Nineties and Noughties and last surpassed three billion in 2010.
In terms of passenger distance travelled, 1953 – the year after these records began – was the peak for coach and bus at 93 billion kilometres. This had dropped to just 18 billion by 2021, although DfT notes a change in methodology for the last three years.
Translated into modal share, 42% of passengers travelled by coach or bus in 1952 – when it was 27% for cars, vans and taxis. For 2018, when the same methodology was last used, 4% were travelling by coach and bus versus 83% for cars, vans and taxis.
