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Bus & Coach Operators Market Report 2010
Key Note Publications Ltd, March 2010, Pages: 101
In the year ending March 2009, the British market for scheduled bus and coach services (including concessionary fare reimbursements, but excluding public transport support) is estimated to have been worth approximately £6.3bn, representing a 1.3% rise on the estimated figure for 2007/2008. Bus patronage in England is driven by growth in London. Outside of London, passenger journey numbers in Great Britain are showing little year-on-year growth.
In 2008/2009, government financial support for local bus services (including public transport support, concessionary fare reimbursements and the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG), but excluding passenger receipts) increased by 9.2%; between 2004/2005 and 2008/2009, it increased by 44.8%. Since April 2006, the over-60s and the disabled have been able to travel for free on local bus services within their own local authority areas and, from April 2008, the same concession applied throughout the country. These concessions have contributed to the rise in government support over the review period.
In August 2009, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) published a report on local bus services in Great Britain, which looked at the extent to which competition in the provision of local bus services delivers quality and value — both for the bus users and for the level of public subsidy which the operators receive. The report presented evidence suggesting that, in many local areas, current competitive pressures may be insufficient to achieve best-value outcomes for both bus users and taxpayers. The evidence also indicated that, notwithstanding the constraints that may be placed upon bus operators by cars and other travel options, limited competition between bus operators tends to result in higher prices and lower quality for bus users. In light of these findings, the OFT announced, in January 2010, that it would be referring UK local bus services, excluding London and Northern Ireland, to the Competition Commission (CC).
Much of the environmental emphasis on the leading bus companies is now directed towards reducing the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of their vehicles and increasing fuel efficiencies. The Government has provided encouragement for bus companies in this area by establishing the Green Bus Fund — a new £30m fund from which bus companies and local authorities in England competed for funds to help them buy new low-carbon buses — and also by reforming the BSOG, so as to bring it in line with Government environmental objectives. The leading bus companies have themselves joined forces to launch the Greener Journeys campaign, which aims to encourage a shift towards bus use and to reduce the number of car journeys in the UK over a 3-year period.
The authors forecast that the value of the total bus and coach services market in Great Britain will remain static at best in the year ending March 2010, as the impact of the recession continues to have a negative impact on bus travel. An improving economic climate, including falling employment levels, should thereafter hopefully prove a catalyst for rising passenger numbers, and the value of the total bus and coach services market is forecast to rise accordingly.
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