London bus ridership drops as car journeys rise

Bus ridership declined last year by 0.4%. There had previously been year on year increases in the number of passengers on buses since 1998.

The average rise in all TfL fares (for users who pay them) over the four years from 2008 to 2012 was 25%. Inflation over the relevant period was around 14%, so the real increase was about 11%.

Provisional figures for car journeys in London last year show a rise, after a drop of 10% in the last 13 years.

The current Mayor cancelled the planned expansion of bus services when he was elected in 2008. London’s population is rising at the rate of around a 100,000 a year.

London Green Party Assembly Member Darren Johnson commented,

“The last decade has seen car journeys in London decline as bus journeys rise. This current Mayor has put that long term trend into reverse by freezing the bus fares and trying to pack London’s growing population onto the same number of buses. It is a disastrous policy for Londoner’s and our environment.

”The Mayor needs to reduce fares and discourage driving. To ensure the successes in London aren’t reversed we need to be looking at increasing the cost of driving a car and decreasing the cost of public transport.”