Local bus statistics in Great Britain, including passengers, mileage and vehicle fleet, for the year ending March 2021.

The summary relates only to England to match the coverage of the Department for Transport bus policy, but the tables also cover Scotland and Wales.

In the year ending March 2021, the number of bus passenger journeys:

• decreased by 61% in England
• decreased by 59% in London
• decreased by 64% in England outside of London

In the year ending March 2021, bus service mileage:

• decreased by 16% in England
• decreased by 2% in London
• decreased by 21% in England outside of London

At March 2021, 99% of buses in England had the accessibility certificate which were required for all buses operating local services by 2017 at the latest.

This publication covers the year to 31 March 2021, which includes periods during which movement restrictions were in place due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The collection of passenger data is not granular enough to distinguish numbers of passenger journeys at different points during this period. An indication of changes in bus passenger volume during this period can be found in the separate weekly release covering transport use during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

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Statistics on the number of local bus:

• passenger journeys
• fares

in Great Britain.

For the year ending June 2021, the number of local bus passenger journeys in:

• England was 1.98 billion, a 38% decrease
• London decreased by 36%
• England outside London decreased by 41%

Comparing local bus passenger journeys for April to June 2021 to April to June 2020, we see:

• a 219% increase in England
• London increased by 204%
• England outside London increased by 239%
• Scotland increased by 237%
• Wales increased by 216%

The local bus fares index increased by 1.5% in England between June 2020 and June 2021.

For other areas, the local bus fares index change was a:

• 3.3% increase in London
• 0.2% increase in metropolitan areas
• 0.4% increase in non-metropolitan areas
• 0.3% in Scotland
• 0.0% in Wales

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 2.5% over the same 12-month period.

This publication covers April to June 2021, which coincides with the application of movement restrictions due to COVID-19 in Great Britain. The collection of passenger data is not granular enough to distinguish numbers of passenger journeys before and after restrictions were announced. An indication of changes in bus passenger volume during this period can be found in the separate weekly release covering transport use during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

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Please note a break in the statistical time series for local ‘A’ roads travel times has been highlighted beginning January 2019.

Please note that figures for the SRN and local ‘A’ roads are not directly comparable.

Road congestion and travel times

Statistics on attitudes around travel and transport issues during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, asked of people who have completed the main National Travel Survey.

Questions in Wave 4 were put to 5,299 individuals and includes responses on a wide array of topics, including:

• travel behaviour during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
• concerns about transport
• changes in travel behaviour
• compliance with regulations
• leisure and holidays

At least 34% of respondents who travel by walking or cycling reported an increase in these modes.

Between May and July, people reported 59% less trips to visit family and friends than in the same period in 2019. During August and September, trips to visit family and friends were down 36% compared to 2019.

Between May and September, people reported going out for exercise more than twice as often compared to before the coronavirus pandemic.

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Statistics on road freight transported by Great Britain and UK registered Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) in the United Kingdom and internationally from July 2019 to June 2020.

Domestic road freight activity by Great Britain registered HGVs operating in the UK decreased in the 12-month period ending June 2020 compared to the 12-month period ending June 2019.

The amount of goods:

• lifted decreased by 8% to 1.3 billion tonnes
• moved decreased by 10% to 140 billion tonne kilometres

International road freight activity by UK-registered HGVs transporting freight internationally decreased in the 12-month period ending June 2020 compared to the 12-month period ending June 2019.

The amount of goods:

• lifted decreased by 23% to 7.0 million tonnes
• moved decreased by 26% to 4.2 billion tonne kilometres

These statistics cover the period following the government’s announcement of measures to limit the impact and transmission of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In early March 2020 the UK government set out four phases in its response to the coronavirus pandemic. The evolving situation may have also impacted the activity of road goods vehicles prior to this stage. Coronavirus has had a wide impact on UK society and economic activity since March 2020.

As these data are affected by the coronavirus pandemic, caution should be taken when interpreting these data and comparing them with previous time periods.

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On the Strategic Road Network (SRN) for the year ending September 2020, the average delay is estimated to be 7.8 seconds per vehicle per mile compared to speed limits travel times, a 17.0% decrease compared to the year up to September 2019.

The average speed is estimated to be 60.6 mph, 2.9% up on the year ending September 2019.

In the year to September 2020, on average 52.5% of additional time was needed compared to speed limits travel times, on individual road sections of the SRN to ensure on time arrival. This is down 14.3 percentage points compared to the year ending September 2019, so on average a lower proportion of additional time is required.

On local ‘A’ roads for the year ending September 2020, the average delay is estimated to be 36.6 seconds per vehicle per mile compared to free flow travel times. This is a decrease of 16.1% on the year ending September 2019.

The average speed is estimated to be 26.6 mph. This is an increase of 5.1% on the year ending September 2019.

The outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) has had a marked impact on everyday life, including on congestion on the road network. As these data are affected by the coronavirus pandemic in the UK, caution should be taken when interpreting these statistics and comparing them with previous time periods. Although values for the speed and delay statistics are gradually returning towards their pre-lockdown values, they remain markedly different than historical trends.

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Statistics on motor vehicles that were registered for the first time during July to September 2020 and those that were licensed at the end of September 2020.

Recent trends in new vehicle registrations have been heavily affected by the measures implemented from March 2020 onwards to limit the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

During July to September 2020, there were:

• 755,000 vehicles registered for the first time in Great Britain
• 59,057 ultra low emission vehicles registered for the first time in Great Britain

At the end of September 2020, there were:

• 38.8 million licensed vehicles in Great Britain

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On the Strategic Road Network (SRN) for year ending March 2022, the average delay is estimated to be 8.8 seconds per vehicle per mile (spvpm), compared to free flow, a 31.3% increase on the previous year.

The average speed is estimated to be 58.6 mph, down 3.5% from year ending March 2021.

On local ‘A’ roads for year ending March 2022, the average delay is estimated to be 47.7 spvpm compared to free flow.

The average speed is estimated to be 23.8 mph.

The outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) has had a marked impact on everyday life, including on congestion on the road network. As these data are affected by the coronavirus pandemic in the UK, caution should be taken when interpreting these statistics and comparing them with previous time periods. Additional http://bit.ly/COVID_Congestion_Analysis" class="govuk-link">analysis on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on road journeys in 2020 is also available. This story map contains charts and interactive maps for road journeys in England in 2020.

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These quarterly statistics have been produced in addition to the regular annual statistics, to provide more timely information on compliance with speed limits during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

As effects of the pandemic on speed limit compliance have reduced, this release is the last in the quarterly series.

They provide insight into the speeds at which drivers choose to travel and their compliance with speed limits under free flow conditions but should not be taken as estimates of actual compliance or actual average speed across the wider road network.

Long-term trends in vehicle speed limit compliance have usually been stable over time. Without coronavirus, we would have expected this to continue.

In October to December 2021:

• the proportion of cars exceeding the speed limit was lower than October to December 2020 and 2019
• 42% of cars exceeded the limit on motorways
• 9% of cars exceeded the limit on national speed limit single carriageways
• 50% of cars exceeded the limit on 30mph roads

January 2021 saw England enter a third national lockdown and Scotland a second national lockdown while Wales continued its third national lockdown, which had begun in December 2020. These lockdowns significantly reduced daily traffic levels, however, traffic levels remained higher than those seen in April to June 2020.

By June 2021, overall road traffic levels had returned to levels close to those seen before the pandemic. During October to December 2021, these levels were comparable to those seen before the pandemic.

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The analysis of the National Travel Survey for 2020 shows disabled adults (aged 16 years and over) in England:

• made on average 28% fewer trips
• travelled 44% fewer miles than non-disabled adults

Both disabled and non-disabled adults rely predominantly on car travel. It accounts for around 3 in 5 trips for both groups. However, around a third of the trips made by disabled adults where car was the main mode were as a passenger, whereas for non-disabled adults around a fifth were as a passenger.

The statistics in this release have been impacted by the national restrictions implemented from March 2020 onwards in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

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The statistics are collected annually to inform the development and monitoring of light rail policy. Figures present information on usage, infrastructure and revenue for the 8 systems which are urban and primarily surface-running.

In the financial year ending March 2022:

• light rail and tram use in England increased by 109.9% from the year ending March 2021, up to 171.5 million passenger journeys
• a 147.4% increase in passenger journeys in England (outside London) and an 87.7% increase in London

When comparing to the financial year ending March 2021:

• vehicle mileage increased by 7.7% to 20.9 million miles
• light rail revenue increased by 91.8%

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had an impact on every aspect of life in the United Kingdom, which has affected almost all statistical trends across the transport sector. The impact of the pandemic on the number of light rail and tram passenger journeys has been less marked in the year ending March 2022 than the previous year ending March 2021, due to there being less restrictions on movement and activities during this period.

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Estimates of road traffic by:

• vehicle type
• road type
• geographical region

in Great Britain for the year 2020.

Road traffic trends during 2020 have been affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the UK. Motor vehicle traffic on Great Britain roads decreased by 21.3% between 2019 and 2020, to 280.5 billion vehicle miles.

When compared to the year 2019:

• car traffic decreased by 24.7%
• the figure of 209.6 billion vehicle miles was the lowest annual estimate in the last 29 years.
• van traffic fell by 9.1%
• lorry traffic fell by 5.7%
• traffic on the Strategic Road Network decreased by 25.1%
• motorway traffic decreased by 25.3%.
• ‘A’ roads saw a 23.2% decrease in traffic
• minor road traffic decreased by 17.2%

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Statistics on taxi and private hire vehicles (PHV) in England show at end March 2022:

• 260,700 licensed taxis and PHVs, an increase of 3.8% since 2021
• 78% of all licensed vehicles were PHVs
• 55% of licensed taxis were wheelchair accessible
• all taxis in London were wheelchair accessible
• 2% of PHVs were wheelchair accessible
• there were 330,300 driver licences, a decrease of 3.4% since 2021
• 65% of licences were PHV only licences
• 12% were taxi only licences
• 22% were dual licences

The statistics in this release will have been impacted to some extent by the national restrictions implemented from March 2020 onwards in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

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