In my last article I highlighted the on-going patronage decline problem in London. This time, I want to dwell on some of the industry’s successes.
The chart shows the ‘trip rate’ – the number of bus trips the average resident in a given area makes in a calendar year. As such, it covers everyone from ‘core’ users, who may travel several times a day, to the Jeremy Clarkson-types who never set foot on a bus all year.
What does it tell us ?
The average resident of London is making over 200 bus trips each year – but that includes the expansive impact of the daily in-commuting and huge levels of tourism. This is after several years of decline. London is now so large (roughly twice the total population of Scotland) that it can’t be compared with other UK cities – it’s got more in common with Paris or New York, than Peterborough or Newcastle. Another way of thinking about London is as 10-20 medium sized cities jammed together, in which case Woolwich might be more like – say – Hull, than it first seems.
But look at the Brighton number. Brightonians are on average making c150 trips per resident year, and there are quite a few UK cities which we could reasonably compare with Brighton, including the other…
