Factors Behind Recent bus Patronage Trends in Britain and their Implications for Future Policy

Abstract

In October 1986, local bus service was deregulated (i.e. price and quantity controls were removed) in Great Britain, with the exception of London and Northern Ireland. By 1989, despite a greater growth in bus-kilometers being run outside London, there was a noticeable drop in market stability. In London, however, a broadly stable market was observed. The author examines principal factors affecting ridership; overall British trends; the London market at the beginning of the discussed period; trends in bus kilometers run; trends in real fare levels; observed and expected ridership changes; exogenous factors; effects of the congestion charge; quantified components of London growth; trends on the London Underground system; cost trends; public expenditures on London buses; some other statistical interpretation; and London lesson application in the rest of Great Britain.