Bus usage figures for 15/16

[northwichcat]

Statistics on the local bus sector in Great Britain, presenting 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.

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

An index sheet lists all the tables available.

Latest bus and concessionary travel statistics
In the year ending March 2016
There were an estimated 5.04 billion bus passenger journeys in Great Britain, around two-thirds of all public transport journeys. 4.53 billion journeys were in England, of which more than half were in London.

Bus passenger journeys in England decreased by 2.6% compared with the previous financial year.

There were around 9.9 million older and disabled concessionary bus passes in England, with an average of 98 bus journeys per pass per year.

Bus mileage in England decreased by 2.0% when compared with the previous year. This was largely due to a 12.3% reduction in mileage on local authority supported services outside London.

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/bus-statistics

All the council areas are listed in the spreadsheets at the above link. Looking usage in North West England compared to the previous year there has been the following changes:
Halton - 0.3 million INCREASE
Cheshire East - 0.3 million INCREASE
Cheshire West - No change
Blackburn with Darwen - No change
Blackpool - 0.3 million DECREASE
Cumbria - 0.8 million DECREASE
Merseyside - 0.9 million DECREASE
Warrington - 1 million DECREASE
Lancashire - 2.5 million DECREASE
Greater Manchester - 8.1 million DECREASE

Obviously you can't make like-for-like comparisons given the difference in population e.g. Halton's figure is more impressive than Cheshire East's figure and Merseyside's figure isn't as bad as Warrington's figure. The opening of the Ashton and Airport Metrolink lines may be a factor in why Greater Manchester usage has dropped so much.