See all statistics published by DfT

Department for Transport (DfT) statistics on the local bus sector in Great Britain present information on passenger journeys, vehicle miles, levels of revenue, costs and government support, the vehicle fleet, staff employed and other indicators including punctuality. The department also collects statistics on concessionary travel, covering pass holders, journeys, expenditure and reimbursement to operators. This index sheet lists all the tables available.

The majority of these statistics are updated annually, with information on passenger journeys and fares available quarterly.

Feedback on these statistics is welcomed, and can be provided by completing this short feedback form

Latest bus and concessionary travel statistics

In the financial year ending 2013:

• there were an estimated 5.1 billion bus passenger journeys in Great Britain – around two-thirds of all public transport journeys, of these, 4.6 billion journeys were in England, of which half were in London.
• bus passenger journeys in England decreased by 1.4% compared to the previous financial year.
• there were around 9.7 million older and disabled concessionary bus passes in England, with an average of 105 bus journeys per pass per year.

Related information

Several DfT business plan indicators use data from the bus statistics series. These include:

• bus subsidy per passenger journey
• the proportion of bus services running on time
• the number of bus passenger journeys

Other information on buses is available from these external sources:

• Passenger Focus research on behalf of bus, coach and tram passengers
• bus and coach statistics: Scotland
• Welsh transport statistics (chapter 8 – public transport)
• Northern Ireland transport statistics (chapter 6 – public transport)
• Transport for London ‘Travel in London’ reports

Contact us

Technical information

Most of the statistics in this series are derived from an annual survey of over 500 bus operators. Some figures are derived from smaller surveys of local authorities (for example on concessionary travel), the larger bus operators or other sources. London figures are provided by Transport for London (TfL). Users should be aware that previously published figures derived from the annual PSV operator survey are routinely revised once a new year of data becomes available, due to the nature of the imputation method used.

Full details of the data sources and methods used can be found in the guidance.

Bus and concessionary travel statistics guidance
Bus statistics data collection forms

National statistics

Most of the statistics published in this series are National Statistics. Bus statistics were assessed by the UK Statistics Authority and confirmed as National Statistics in February 2013.

National statistics report
Letter of confirmation as national statistics

Concessionary travel statistics, tables containing data supplied by local authorities and industry bodies and those relating to bus service provision are outside the scope of National Statistics. The department’s view is that all statistics which are not designated are robust and have been produced to a suitable standard.

Pre-release access list

The post holders given access to these statistics up to 24 hours prior to release are available in the pre-release access list.

Pre-release access lists for buses series