Nearly 60% of all public transport journeys are made by bus. In many parts of the country,  buses are basically the only public transport there is. 

Many people rely on bus services to get to work, to get to their hospital appointments, to visit their friends and relatives, however bus fares have gone up by 60% over the last decade making travelling by bus increasingly unaffordable. 

As the cost of bus travel has increased,  passenger numbers have fallen. With the decline in passenger numbers,  the pressure on local authorities to step in and subsidise “socially necessary” services has increased. 

However,  after a decade of local government cuts , councils no longer have the resources to subsidise our underfunded bus services. As a result, we are losing vital bus services as routes become commercially unviable and people resort to cars or are simply left isolated. 

Rail and roads, cycling and walking already have a national strategy. Why should buses continue to be the poor relation? 

We need a national bus strategy, backed by central Government funding, to cut fares and protect local bus services.