More than a million people now live at least a mile from a bus stop with a regular service (calling on average four times a day).
Meanwhile the number of people using concessionary bus passes for older and disabled people has fallen by almost a fifth in a decade and government support for buses is down about £800m a year in real terms.
The government is putting £5bn over five years towards buses and cycling in England.
BBC Panorama looked at the situation facing Britain’s bus services in a programme on 16 March 2020. The data unit contributed to the programme and reported on the story for BBC Online.
- Department for Transport: Older and disabled concessionary travel passes1,2 by metropolitan area status and type of pass: England, annual from 2010/11
- Department for Transport: Number of older/disabled concessionary travel passes1 and bus concessionary journeys2 per pass by metropolitan area status: England, annual from 2010/11
- Department for Transport: Concessionary bus journeys1,2 by Travel Concession Authority (TCA): England, annual from 2014/15
- Marion Crawford, 92-year-old bus user from Lower Denby, West Yorkshire
- Paul Jones, chief officer, Denby Dale Centre, which provides a charity-funded bus service
- Judith Lawrence, 75, bus user from Helperby, North Yorkshire
- Marti Blagborough, construction worker, Farnley
- Martin Kelly, director of growth and development, Blackburn with Darwen Council
- Spokesperson, Stoke-on-Trent City Council
- Spokeswoman, Department for Transport (DfT)
- Darren Shirley, Campaign for Better Transport (CBT)
- Spokesman, Somerset County Council
- Map: households' distance from a bus stop with at least four buses per day
- Bar chart: Fall in miles travelled since 2010, by region
- Line chart: Journeys by older and disabled people in England, England vs London, 2010-2019