2. Background
2.1 Section 3 and Tables 1 to 10 describe the trends in Scottish bus and coach services over the past ten financial years, from 1995-96 to 2005-06, using statistics which were provided by the Department for Transport (DfT) and are produced from its survey of bus and coach operators. Table 10 also provides some key figures over a longer period, including 1985-86, the last full year prior to the deregulation of bus services outwith London, which took place during 1986-87. The tables include, in many cases, comparable statistics for GB and/or for GB outwith London, where this is more appropriate.
Chart C: Passenger journeys on local bus services (Scotland)
Chart D: Passenger journeys on local bus services per head of population
2.2 Section 4, Tables 11 to 31 and A to H provide Scottish Household Survey ( SHS) statistics, for the calendar year 2005, and some earlier years, on a range of bus related topics. The figures may relate to different periods, depending upon when the relevant questions were included in the survey and the sample sizes required for the analysis.
2.3 Section 5 and Table 32 provide the number of national concessionary fare cards used for Scotland-wide free bus travel and some results from the Bus Punctuality Survey.
2.3 Section 6 provides some notes and definitions; section 7 describes the DfT survey of public service vehicle operators, and section 8 gives further information about the SHS.
2.4 The main changes in this edition are:
- expansion of Table A, on walking time to the nearest bus stop, to show urban/rural categories;
- a new trend Table C, which shows frequency of bus service within walking time to the nearest bus stop;
- two new tables which show how bus passengers' characteristics change between different times of the week ( Table 28) and over the years of the survey ( Table H);
- expansion of Table 30, on concessionary travel pass possession, to show how this varies for more population sub-groups
- a new Table 31 which shows usage of concessionary travel passes;
- a new section 5.1 and Table 32 show the numbers of national concessionary fare cards issued for the Scotland-wide free bus travel for elderly and disabled people (which started on 1st April 2006, so is not reflected in the passenger numbers for 2005-06);
- a new section 5.2 gives some results from DfT's new Bus Punctuality Survey;
- the tables which gave figures for individual local authorities ( LAs) have been revised to show the trends for the Regional Transport Partnerships ( RTPs) and the larger LAs because the SHS sample is not designed to provide annual figures for every LA.
2.5 "Bus and Coach Statistics" is one of a series of Transport Statistics publications, most of which focus on particular aspects of transport and cover them in depth. The individual publications that comprise the series are described in the section on "Transport Statistics publications" towards the end of this edition. A comprehensive statistical picture of transport activity is described in the compendium "Scottish Transport Statistics" volume, the "Main Transport Trends" bulletin and the "Key Transport Statistics" card. These provide figures on a wide range of topics, including: vehicles licensed, traffic volumes and road accidents; the numbers of passengers on bus, rail, air and ferry services; travel to work, travel to school, household car availability and other key findings from the SHS and the National Travel Survey; and the tonnages carried by road, rail and waterborne freight. "Bus and Coach Statistics" provides more detailed figures from DfT's survey of bus and coach operators, and many detailed analyses of the bus-related results of the SHS.
2.6 Since its introduction, this bulletin has appeared annually. However, many of its figures do not change much from year to year (apart from sampling variability). Therefore, it has been decided, following consultation with the Transport and Travel Statistics Advisory Committee, that this bulletin should henceforth appear biennially. The next edition will therefore be "Bus and Coach Statistics 2007-08", and will be scheduled for publication by March 2009. However, please note that some "bus" figures will appear annually in "Main Transport Trends", "Scottish Transport Statistics" and "Household Transport".
Chart E: Local bus service fare indices and passenger transport fare indices
Chart F: Local bus services: passenger receipts, public transport support and concessionary fare reimbursement (Scotland)
