A major new report exploring the changing shape of the bus market in England has been released by th

1.3 In the longer term, the fall in bus patronage is even starker, with local journeys in Britain down more than 60% since the heyday of the bus in 1960.2 Nonetheless, the bus remains an important source of mobility in England, particularly for people on lower incomes. [...] Other negative factors for bus use identified included the increasing use of online retail (confirming the ITC finding that the fall in shopping trips has particularly depressed bus usage), increases in bus fares and the cheaper costs of car ownership and use (principally caused by the steep fall in fuel prices in 2014). [...] Conclusion and Recommendations: 6.1 W hat can the findings from the ITC research tell us about the changing nature of bus travel in England? First, it is clear that the decline in bus travel outside London has been caused by a shrinkage in the percentage of the population who are bus users, rather than existing bus travellers using the bus less. [...] 15 The shape of changing bus demand in England List of Figures Figure 1 Local Bus Passenger Journeys in England, 2004/05 to 2018/19 7 Percentage of the population who are local bus users in London Figure 2 7 and the Rest of England, 2009/11 to 2015/17 Annual bus journeys made per bus user in London and Rest of Figure 3 8 England, 2009/11 to 2015/17 Annual bus journeys per person, categorized by ge. [...] Explanations for the increase in walking tend to emphasise the health benefits of active travel and the push factor of time savings especially in the light of the total door to door time when there is congestion during the bus section of the journey.