Bus journeys drop by 4 million in 12 months in West Midlands

Latest figures show that there were 277 million journeys made by bus over the past year compared with 281 million the year before.

The drop is even bigger when compared with 2009-10 when Britain was in recession and 314 million journeys were made.

The figures released today related to the period covering March 2012 to March this year. But passenger transport authority Centro said there had already been an improvement in April.

"Between January and the end of March, there was a slight drop in bus patronage in the West Midlands compared to the first quarter of 2012 – down from 67.33 million to 66.78 million, which is less than one per cent," Centro spokesman Steve Swingler said.

"We think the extremely poor weather, especially in March, was a contributing factor. However, figures for April this year are up by more than five per cent compared to April last year."

Kevin Chapman, from the Campaign for Better Transport, said: "The recession will have been a factor but what these figures really show is an inconsistency in the quality of services.

"Some services on some routes are very good, and there has been investment, but others are not up to the quality that people expect and are not as reliable as they are in other parts of the West Midlands," he added.

"Price is a factor as well. National Express puts its fares up most years, usually above inflation and straight after Christmas."

In Staffordshire, the number of bus journeys dropped from 22 million in 2009-10 to 20.5m in 2011-12.

Total bus usage in England fell by around 1.3 per cent in 2012-13, according to statistics provided by the Department for Transport. An estimated 4.62 billion bus passenger journeys were made in the year to March 2013 – around 60 million fewer than during the previous year.

Prior to this, total bus passenger numbers in England had changed very little since reaching a 20-year high in 2008-09, with an upward trend in London offsetting a downward trend in the rest of England. Transport groups, including the Campaign for Better Transport, have written to Chancellor George Osborne urging him to maintain funding for bus services in his spending review next Wednesday.

The Treasury could save £1.8bn over nine years by removing the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG), through which the government funding for bus services is paid.

The BSOG was already cut by 20 per cent last year. Bus fares in the West Midlands have risen each year since 2009 when the typical price of a single fare was £1.50.

Every January or June, National Express West Midlands, the biggest bus operator in the region, has put 10p on the price of a ticket so that a single fare on one of its services now costs £2. National Express West Midlands declined to comment today, other than to say it agreed with Centro's views.

Fares on the Midland Metro tram line also went up this year. A single trip went from £2 to £2.10 in January on the 23-stop route between Wolverhampton St George's and Birmingham Snow Hill.

Transport bosses believe they will be able to offer people more attractive fares with the planned introduction of a smartcard system, similar to London's Oyster card.