Kickstarting Growth in Bus Patronage: Targetting Support at the Margins

Over the past ten years in England (outside London) both bus patronage and bus kilometres have fallen and continue to fall. The decline in bus kilometres has largely arisen from withdrawal of commercial services, which has not been wholly offset by increases in supported services despite increases in Government support for the bus industry to prederegulation levels in real terms (DfT, 2006a). It is therefore timely to examine innovatory methods of subsidy provision that seek to improve the commercial viability of services.