Bus and tram passenger journeys

The light rail (includes trams) and bus passenger journey figures have been obtained from the Department for Transport. Table 1 includes the bus passenger journey results for the Lancashire-12  area, Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool, the North West region and England. It also has the results for the Blackpool Tramway.

Figures are in millions of journeys originating in the given area in the year in question. The results in table 1 include all bus operators serving the general public, but exclude school buses and 'dial-a-ride' services. The bus passenger journey figures are sourced from bus operators via the Department for Transport's Public Service Vehicle Survey. These figures may differ to those provided by local authorities.

Key points

• Bus passenger journeys recovered sharply in the year 2021/22, but were much fewer when compared to 2019/20.
• The Lancashire-12 area recovered to 33.8 million passenger journeys in 2021/22, up 120.9% on 2020/21 and only down -15.3% compared to 2019/20.
• In Blackburn with Darwen, down -22.9% on 2019/20 journeys and up 80% on 2020/21 to 2.7 million journeys, the recovery was also quite strong.
• Blackpool's bus journeys suffered more during the pandemic, and remains down by nearly a third, but had a steep rise of 93.3% from 2020/21 to stand at 5.8 million journeys in 2021/22.
• The situation in the Lancashire-14 area (up 113.6% on 2020/21, down just -18.7% on 2019/20) seems to be better than England in general, where the latest year-on-year recovery was only 80%, and the drop from 2019/20 to 2021/22 was 30%.
• With 4.2 million passenger journeys on the Blackpool Tramway, there has been a good comeback locally compared to 1.1 million in 2020/21, but it was still -12.5% down on 2019/20

Deregulation of the bus market took place in October 1986 as a result of the Transport Act 1985. This led to the opening up of the market to the private sector and should be borne in mind when analysing bus passenger journey figures from 1986 onwards.

Table 1. Local bus and light rail (tram) passenger journeys, 2009/10 to 2021/22, millions of journeys (reverse order)

Notes: Figures exclude school bus journeys and dial-a-ride services. Figures provided by bus operators via the Department for Transport's Public Service Vehicle Survey.

Source Department for Transport DfT local bus services table BUS01e and Light rail and tram statistics 

Bus passenger journeys prior to the Covid-19 pandemic

Over the 35 year period from 1985/86 to 2019/20, the number of bus passenger journeys fell by -15.2% in England (-732m journeys). This overall figure however disguises some wide variations and disparities at the regional level. London for example saw an increase from 1985/86 with passenger journey numbers latterly 80% (+939 m) higher than they were 35 years before, although the peak was reached in 2013/14, and journey numbers have since fallen back. By contrast, numbers more than halved in the north, where falls of -61.9% (North East region), -62.8% (Yorkshire and the Humber region) and -56.6% (North West region) were recorded. The total decrease in bus journeys in these 3 regions was -1.2 billion, of which -480 million (40%) were in the North West. The Midlands regions also saw decreases of -39% (East) and -49% (West) until 2019/20.

Apart from London, the only other regions not to experience a long term fall in passenger numbers were the South West and South East, where bus use had been more consistent over the 35 year period. After falling to a low of 254 million passenger journeys in 1993/94, the South East region saw a recovery back to around the 349 m journeys recorded in 1985/86. There was a major decline of -20 million passenger journeys between 2018/19 and 2019/20 in the South West region, and one of -15 million journeys in the South East which means that for the previous year's results only the London region had maintained a surplus over the 1985/6 figure.

Excluding the increases in London, the number of bus passenger journeys fell by -45.8% (-1,670m journeys) in eight regions in England between 1985/86 and 2019/20.

The data in table 1 (and figure 1) reveal a pattern of continuing decline in bus passenger journeys within the Lancashire-14 area over the nine years from 2009/10. For the Lancashire-12 area, there were 40.4 million bus passenger journeys in 2019/20, which was noticeably lower than the 61.3 million in 2009/10, a reduction of -34.1%, or -20.9m journeys.

The unitary authorities of Blackburn with Darwen (-32.7%) and Blackpool (-29.7%) also show a general trend of declining bus use over the same ten year period, with journeys decreasing by -1.6m in Blackburn with Darwen and by -3.8m journeys in Blackpool following 2009/10.

Taking the figures for the Lancashire-14 area as a whole, there had been a -33.3% decline in passenger numbers over the ten year period from 79 million to 52.6 million.

Figure 1: Bus passenger journeys (millions), 2009/10 to 2021/22

Notes: Figures exclude school bus journeys and dial-a-ride services. Figures provided by bus operators via the Department for Transport's Public Service Vehicle Survey.
Source: Department for Transport DfT local bus services table BUS01e

Bus passenger journeys during the Covid-19 pandemic

In 2020/21, London accounted for 54.4% of bus passenger journeys in England and the North West accounted for 9.4%. There have been very heavy falls in passenger numbers between 2019/20 and 2020/21 in all regions, ranging from -59% in London to -67.9%. The fall for the whole of England was -61.3%. The second least fall after London was for the North West at -59.6%.

There were nearly 2 million fewer bus journeys in Blackburn with Darwen and 5.8 million fewer in Blackpool. In percentage terms these were falls of -52.3% and -65.8% respectively. For the Lancashire-12 area, the number of bus passenger journeys decreased by about 17.6 million journeys (-44.3%), from 39.6m in 2019/20.

2021 to 2022, recovery after the pandemic

All areas shown in Table 1 recovered sharply in the year 2021/22, but all had much fewer bus passenger journeys compared to 2019/20. The Lancashire-12 area seems to have recovered quite well to 33.8 million passenger journeys in 2021/22, up 120.9% on 2020/21 and only down -15.3% compared to 2019/20. In Blackburn with Darwen, down just -22.9% on 2019/20 journeys and up 80% on 2020/21 to 2.7 million journeys, the recovery was also quite strong. Blackpool's bus journeys suffered more during the pandemic, and remains down by nearly a third, but had a steep rise of 93.3% from 2020/21 to stand at 5.8 million journeys in 2021/22. Overall the situation in the Lancashire-14 area (up 113.6% on 2020/21, down just -18.7% on 2019/20) seems to be better than England in general, where the latest year-on-year recovery was only 80%, and the drop from 2019/20 to 2021/22 was 30%.

DfT have discontinued the table which this article previously used as a source for the data.
The Lancashire-12 figure for 2020/21 has been revised down from 22.1 million passenger journeys to just 15.3 million, and every year from 2017/18 had revisions. The figures for all areas listed in Table 1 (except London) had revisions for years 2017/18 and 2018/19.

Blackpool tramway   

Figure 2. Blackpool tramway passenger journeys, 1983/84 - 2021/22  

Source: Department for Transport, Light rail and tram statistics 

The Blackpool tram system is an 18 kilometre route from Starr Gate in Blackpool to Fleetwood, and therefore operates in both Blackpool unitary authority and Wyre district. For the 2021/22 financial year, there were 28 tram cars on the system and 39 stops along the route. The average journey lasted 4.4 km, total revenue was £5.3 million, and passenger kilometres amounted to 18.3 million.

Light rail and tram statistics on the Department for Transport website (table LRT0101) go back to 1983/84 when 6.2 million journeys were made on Blackpool trams (see figure 2). There followed a long-term period of decline to a low point of just 1.1 million journeys in 2011/12, a quick recovery, a levelling out just over 5 million for a couple of years before another drastic decline to 1.1 million (mostly due to the Covid-19 pandemic) and a recovery back to 4.2 million in 2021/22.

The Blackpool tram system reopened in full on 4^th April 2012 after a long period of closure for a multi-million pound upgrade that included a new depot and 16 new trams. The 2012/13 results offered the first indication of passenger numbers on the upgraded route, and the figure of 3.7 million represented a very noticeable improvement over previous years. From 1 April 2014, only Blackpool residents were able to use their concessionary passes on the tram system. All other English national concessionary passes were only valid on Blackpool Transport buses. Between 2013/14 and 2014/15, tram receipts from concessionary revenue fell from £1.6 million to £300,000. The figure more than doubled to £700,000 in 2016/17, and has risen further to £800,000 in all years since 2017/18. Passenger journeys were unchanged in the 2018/19 financial year, staying at 5.2 million, but fell to 4.8 million in 2019/20.

Clearly the Covid-19 pandemic had a major impact on most of the figures for the Blackpool Tramway in 2020/21, and other similar systems around the country. The year-on-year changes from 2019/20 were dramatic. Passenger kilometres were down -76.6% (England = -70.7%). Passenger journeys were down from 4.8 million to 1.1 million, a fall of -77.1% (England = -69%). The anticipated recovery in the 2021/22 financial year has not emerged uniformly around England. With 4.2 million passenger journeys on the Blackpool Tramway, there has clearly been a good comeback locally compared to 1.1 million in 2020/21, but it is still -12.5% down on 2019/20. This can be compared with England overall, still -34.9% down on 2019/20, and the London Underground which was -44% lower than the pre-pandemic figure. The same is true of the passenger kilometre statistics for 2021/22. On the Blackpool Tramway 18.3 million km was a big improvement on the 4.9 million in 2020/21, but was still -12.9% under 2019/20 (England=-36.2%, London Underground=-43.2%). The total revenue at £5.3 million was still -25.4% down on 2019/20 at 2021/22 prices.

The northern section of the tram system to Fleetwood passes through Wyre district, and in February 2016, it was announced that residents in Wyre district with concessionary travel passes could once again use them to catch a tram. In 2021/22 there were 600,000 passenger journeys made by users of concessionary passes, hence an eighth of journeys and revenue were accounted for by such pass holders.

The Talbot Road Gateway is currently under construction and, on completion, will allow a quicker and easier transfer between the railway and tram networks. The tram tracks will divert eastwards, from the mainly north-south promenade route, along Talbot Road to a new tram terminus near to Blackpool North railway station.

Related article 

A complementary article considers the 2011 census results for the method of travel to work. The census was undertaken on 27th March 2011, when the tram system was closed for a major upgrade, so the figures exclude the normal commuting patterns of people who use the tram to get to work. The census results highlight the dominance of private vehicles for commuting to work and the minor role played by the various forms of public transport in Lancashire.

Page updated March 2023