Trends in financial support for local bus services

Bus services can support a wide range of policy objectives that are important for health by increasing economic and social participation. In some regions, especially in rural areas and isolated communities, buses are the only means of public transport to enable people to connect with other areas.

This chart shows the change in different elements of government funding for bus services. Support from local and central government comes in three different forms:

• net public transport support – direct payments for operators providing tendered or supported bus services
• concessionary travel – reimbursement to bus operators for statutory and discretionary concessionary fares
• the Bus Service Operators Grant – a fuel duty rebate paid to bus operators.

In England, government funding for bus services was £2bn in 2019/20, 35.3% lower in real terms than its peak in 2008/09. Funding has decreased across all three categories: down by 47.7% for net public transport support, 12.9% for concessionary travel and 52.1% for the Bus Service Operating Grant.

The amount of spending varies across regions:

• In 2019/20, from a total £2bn of government funding for bus services, £0.7bn was spent in London, £0.5bn in other metropolitan areas and £0.8bn in non-metropolitan areas.
• In 2019/20, net public transport support was four times higher in London than in other metropolitan areas, and three times higher than in non-metropolitan areas. Spending on concessionary fares and the Bus Services Operating Grant was higher outside the capital.

Although bus services in London are operated under contract with Transport for London, bus services in the rest of Great Britain are operated by private companies that do not have a legal obligation to run loss-making services. Local authorities have an option to subsidise ‘socially necessary’ routes that would not otherwise be provided by private operators, due to weak profit incentives.

Increased funding can help to increase bus routes and service frequency and to reduce fares, making buses more affordable. This can help to connect people to job opportunities and services, which in turn can benefit their health. Complementary policies that support bus use, such as lane prioritisation, can also help.

• Figures are adjusted for inflation and presented in 2020/21 price terms. This means that the effect of inflation on the figures have been removed so that they can be compared over time.
• 2009/10 figures contain an additional element of funding included in capital charges that for other years is not reported. This means it is not directly comparable with other years.

Source: Health Foundation analysis of Department for Transport, Bus statistics data tables, 1996/97 to 2019/20.