Bus services across much of Great Britain remain below 2021 levels despite years of government funding, with new analysis by Basemap revealing stark regional inequalities in the return of bus networks. Some parts of England have expanded services significantly since 2021. Within Scotland and Wales wide variations can be seen between areas, and some regions remain well below previous levels, raising questions about whether national efforts to restore bus services are delivering equally for communities across the country.
Bus mileage is an important measure of transport provision. Buses account for around 60% of local public transport journeys and play a vital role in connecting people to jobs, education, healthcare and leisure. Annual bus kilometre series, defined as ‘Accredited Official Statistics’, are published by the Department for Transport for Great Britain as a whole, broken down by nations and regional characteristics (table Bus02a) with a detailed breakdown by local authority areas within England (table Bus02d). These are based primarily on annual operator returns and survey data, with some imputation used where operators are not sampled or do not respond and where kilometres need to be apportioned across authority boundaries. Data in table Bus02d are described as ”a broad indications of patterns, rather than precise estimates” in note 6 thereto. Scotland publishes annual vehicle-kilometre statistics through Scottish Transport Statistics, while Wales publishes annual vehicle-kilometre statistics through Welsh Government and StatsWales. Department for Transport statistics show bus mileage in England was 1.640 billion kilometres in the year ending March 2025, up 2% on the previous year and back to 89% of pre-pandemic levels. Basemap’s analysis is different: it uses digital timetable data for a representative week of scheduled service in each year and attributes that mileage to the areas through which services run. It should therefore be read as a comparable measure of scheduled service provision rather than a direct replacement for the official annual series. The benefit of this approach is that it can go deeper into how service levels change within and across areas, and explore different time and day variations providing a more spatially detailed view of bus provision across Great Britain.
East Anglia has seen the strongest recovery in bus provision, with mileage increasing by 16% since 2021. Much of this growth has been driven by Norfolk, where bus mileage has increased by 15% over the same period. Norfolk has benefited from significant investment through its Bus Service Improvement Plan, including £49.55 million in government funding awarded in 2022, followed by a further £14.8 million in 2024 to continue expanding and improving services. These investments have supported enhancements such as new bus lanes, improved passenger information, better integration across operators, and more frequent evening and Sunday services, helping to create a more reliable and accessible network.
This demonstrates how sustained investment, delivered through close partnership between local authorities and bus operators, can support measurable improvements in scheduled service provision. Changes in service level are a major influence on passenger demand, which is also influenced by a wider range of factors including fares, reliability, demographics, and wider travel patterns.
Windsor and Maidenhead has also seen significant growth, with bus mileage nearly doubling in 2025 compared to previous years. This reflects the introduction of new routes, enhancements to existing services, and expanded evening and weekend provision, improving connectivity and extending bus access to more communities across the borough.
Greater Manchester provides an important example of how franchising is beginning to stabilise bus services following years of decline. Bus mileage in the region fell steadily between 2021 and 2024, reaching 7.6% below 2021 levels. However, 2025 saw a clear reversal of this trend, with mileage increasing to within 3.4% of the 2021 baseline. This improvement follows the phased introduction of franchised services under the Bee Network, which has given Transport for Greater Manchester greater control over routes, frequencies, and fares. While it is still early in the transition, the initial recovery in service provision suggests franchising is helping to rebuild network coverage and improve service stability.
Unlike England, Scotland has not benefited from Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding provided directly to local authorities, and this is reflected in continued reductions across many areas. Some authorities have experienced particularly significant declines, including West Lothian, where bus mileage has fallen by almost 50% following the end of a period of intensive inter-operator competition, while Argyll and Bute, Dumfries and Galloway, and Aberdeenshire, have all seen reductions of more than 30%.
There are some notable exceptions. Investment and strong operator performance have helped increase bus mileage in Edinburgh by 11%, driven by Lothian Buses, while neighbouring Midlothian and East Lothian have seen increases of 36% and 22% respectively. However, these examples remain the exception rather than the norm. While the Scottish Government introduced a bus fare cap in the Highlands and Islands from January 2026, this follows several years after similar fare cap initiatives were introduced in England, where additional funding has supported broader service recovery. As a result, much of Scotland continues to see declining service levels, highlighting a widening gap in bus provision across Great Britain. However, at national level ridership has been stimulated by free travel for those under 22.
Rutland provides one of the clearest examples of contraction in Basemap’s timetable-based analysis, with scheduled mileage falling by 46.9% since 2021, the largest reduction recorded in England. The Department for Transport’s annual operator-return statistics also show a reduction in Rutland, with total bus vehicle kilometres falling from 0.814 million in the year ending March 2021 to 0.693 million in the year ending March 2025, a decline of 14.9%. The exact values will not match this analysis because the official figures are compiled across the full financial year and may include some imputation where needed, whereas Basemap uses a one-week timetable snapshot and attributes mileage spatially to the areas through which services run. It is also the case that DfT data for Rutland show very marked variation year to year in earlier years.
In response, Rutland introduced a Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) service in March 2025 to help restore connectivity and provide residents with greater flexibility. Unlike traditional fixed-route services, DRT allows passengers to book journeys dynamically based on demand, helping to maintain access in areas where conventional routes are no longer viable. While DRT cannot fully replace the capacity of a comprehensive fixed-route network, it is increasingly being adopted as a practical solution to maintain essential transport links in low-density areas experiencing declining bus provision.
Overall, the analysis shows that while bus networks across Great Britain are beginning to recover, progress remains uneven and highly dependent on local investment, policy, and delivery. Areas such as Norfolk, Windsor and Maidenhead, and Greater Manchester demonstrate that targeted funding, network reform, and strong local partnerships can stabilise and expand services. However, continued declines in parts of Scotland and authorities such as Rutland highlight the fragility of bus networks where sustained investment and structural support are lacking. As buses remain the most widely used form of public transport and play a critical role in connecting communities to employment, education, and essential services, ensuring consistent and long-term support will be essential to delivering a balanced and resilient recovery across the whole of Great Britain. This analysis shows that while investment and reform can restore bus networks, recovery is far from guaranteed and remains highly dependent on local delivery.
To support transparency and allow further exploration, the full dataset has been made available through an interactive map developed by Basemap in collaboration with the Bus Centre of Excellence. The platform allows users to explore changes in bus mileage across Great Britain at national, regional, and local authority levels from 2021 to 2025. The interactive map is available at mileage.busstats.com, providing planners, policymakers, and the public with direct access to the underlying data and trends.
This analysis was conducted using Basemap’s TRACC accessibility platform and DataCutter public transport dataset. Bus network data for Great Britain was analysed annually from 2021 to 2025 using scheduled services from Q4 of each year, with additional validation using Q2 and Q3 data where significant changes were observed. The data was selected during a neutral week in October, therefore some adapted scheduled routes that account for school transport would have been included. In England, the Department for Transport publishes accredited official annual mileage statistics, including local authority tables, based primarily on operator returns and survey data, with some imputation used where operators are not sampled or do not respond and where mileage needs to be split across authority boundaries. Scotland publishes annual vehicle-kilometre statistics through Scottish Transport Statistics, while Wales publishes annual vehicle-kilometre statistics through Welsh Government and StatsWales, drawing on the Public Service Vehicle Survey.
Basemap’s approach instead uses digital timetable data for a representative week of scheduled service, calculates mileage from route geometry and service frequency, and then attributes that mileage to areas according to how much of each service runs within them. Routes with unrealistic speeds or incomplete schedules were excluded to improve consistency and accuracy. This creates a consistent comparative measure of scheduled service provision across Great Britain and allows analysis at a deeper spatial level than is typically available in the published official series. However, it should not be treated as directly equivalent to operator-reported annual mileage statistics. Differences can arise because the official series reflects operated mileage across a full financial year and may include some imputation where needed, while Basemap reflects scheduled mileage for a representative week and apportions cross-boundary services spatially. 