Bus networks are shrinking across the UK but the cuts have gone much deeper in some areas than others, a BBC analysis has found. In Stoke-on-Trent services have been halved in just eight years. William McLennan met some of the people who stay behind when the buses stop running.
On a cold February evening, Michael Middleton pulls a heavy black beanie over his ears as he walks home alongside a thundering dual carriageway after packing orders at a warehouse on an late shift.
The number 6 bus used to get him home warm and dry in about half an hour after closing time at 10pm, but as of 2019 the service to Stoke-on-Trent no longer runs after 9.15pm.
Instead, he and a colleague follow a litter-strewn path alongside the A50, calling out to each other over the roar of the trucks.
“We’re just trying to hide that,” says the 61-year-old. “We try to talk about everything so as not to think about it.”
Citywide, bus services shrank by an estimated 37% in the five years to March 2022. Over a period of eight years from 2013/14, this decrease is 50%. Most of the cuts are not due to the closure of entire routes. Rather, repeated schedule changes – often told to passengers in the name of improving “reliability” – have quietly restricted traffic, reduced a bus’s regularity or late-evening travel time.
It is an extreme example of a nationwide decline. Across the UK, the local bus network shrank by an estimated 14% between 2016-17 and 2021-22, a BBC analysis of Department for Transport figures shows. The total distance traveled by buses each year has decreased by 210 million miles (338 million kilometers).
Demand for buses, which had been steadily declining for several years, collapsed during the pandemic and has not recovered. Passenger numbers across the UK, with the exception of London, remain around 20% below pre-pandemic levels, according to the latest figures.
Over the past three years, the industry has been bolstered by government grants totaling more than £2 billion.
Despite the decline, buses still account for just under half of all public transport in England. People from low-income households are more likely to use the bus and less likely to have access to a car, official statistics show.
Car ownership in Stoke-on-Trent is below the national average and in several inner-city areas more than 60% of households do not have a car.
“Mainly everything is minimum wage here now,” says Michael. He worked as a miner in the 1980s – then, after the mines closed, he was a store manager in a supermarket before taking care of his wife, who suffered from a rare neurological condition, full-time for 10 years. After she died four years ago, he took over the position in the camp. “You can’t afford a car with the money they pay you,” he says.
Known as Potteries, the city is made up of six towns linked by a network of busy federal highways and a shared industrial heritage.
Tens of thousands of people once worked in ceramic factories, but the city was reshaped by the collapse of British manufacturing in the 20th century. In its place, logistics and distribution companies have moved to warehouses across Stoke-on-Trent – now providing around one in ten jobs.
But for low earners, getting to work itself has become a logistical nightmare.
On an early February morning, Beverly Barnett is standing on the sidewalk next to a chicken shop in the far north of town, the gray ground slippery from the drizzle.
Her face is lit up by the screen of her smartphone, which she swipes compulsively to check if her bus – the 3A – will be on time this morning.
The 38-year-old has planned almost an hour and a half for a journey that would take less than 20 minutes by car. Despite this, she is often late for secondary school, where she supports children with special needs. Her managers understand, but she still worries about the impact on her job security.
“They’re as accommodating as they can be, but the kids will be waiting to start,” she says. “I feel like I’m going to let her down.”
When she moved back to the city 11 years ago, she chose to live close to her family rather than within walking distance to work. Back then it was a single bus journey, taking around 40 minutes, but the direct service was discontinued years ago.
She now faces the daily stress of a touch-and-go transfer at the city center bus station. To make matters worse, the frequency of early morning services has been reduced, not restored, during the pandemic. Even a short delay now means she misses her connection and has to wait a long time for the next bus.
“I’ll check [the app] I think all the time about whether we’re on time,” she says. “The bus may be only five minutes late, but that adds almost an hour to my trip.”
Later that day, Will Lovatt arrives at the bus station on his way home from college. The 18-year-old says he regularly misses the start of classes due to unreliable buses, and he fears it is having a “huge impact” on his education.
It’s a sunny February afternoon, but he’ll soon be returning to his childhood home in Werrington on the east edge of town. He would like to spend more time with friends, but the last bus to his village leaves at 7:30 p.m.
“It’s very restrictive,” he said. “When you commit to something, you have to say, ‘Sorry guys, I have to go’.”
The Better Traffic Campaign gets stories like this almost every day.
“Even if a bus route isn’t completely phased out, doing it so infrequently that it’s impractical has the same effect,” says Silviya Barrett, the group’s director of policy and research.
Improving bus travel — and convincing more people to switch from cars — is a key component of efforts to reach net-zero carbon emissions and must be a government priority, she says.
The costs for bus travel have risen significantly more than those for driving a car. While car owners enjoyed a 5 percent cut in fuel taxes that had been frozen since 2011, bus fares have increased by more than 80 percent over the past 10 years, according to an analysis by the RAC Foundation.
“People won’t look at options if it’s cheaper for them to drive,” says Ms. Barrett.
Stoke-on-Trent buses, like most buses in England, are run by private companies. First Bus – the city’s largest operator – says the cuts in services are a direct result of dwindling demand. Passenger numbers on its services around the city have only returned to about 80% of pre-pandemic levels.
“Demand has gradually declined, both in potteries and across the UK,” says Rob Hughes, operations manager for the company.
Even before Covid, the industry was impacted by the decline of the high street, the rise of online shopping and the comparative fall in car costs.
“The pandemic has accelerated this drop in demand,” says Hughes, while rising fuel costs and a nationwide driver shortage have added costs.
It’s a “crucial time for the industry,” he says.
If private operators decide to change or discontinue a loss-making service, they must first inform the local authority – which has the ability to step in with funds to keep the buses running. But in Stoke-on-Trent the council has decided against it in recent years. When asked, they declined to comment.
Across England, around 13% of services are supported by local authorities, although transport experts say that figure has been falling steadily as local government budgets have shrunk.
“Regardless of the model used to finance bus services, supply must match demand,” says Mr Hughes. “Of course we can’t drive buses without passengers.”
On Friday, the government announced a three-month extension to the Bus Recovery Grant, which was due to expire in March. It has also raised a £2 cap on one-way tickets to encourage people to switch to buses.
The Local Government Association had warned that without further assistance, thousands more bus routes could be lost. She welcomed the three-month extension but said the government needed a “long-term, reformed bus financing model with significant new money”.
Before the extension was announced, Mr Hughes told the BBC that First Bus had already started telling local authorities which services could be shut down without further support.
The government says it is keen to improve services across the country. It urged all local authorities to work with bus operators to develop “plans to improve bus service” and has committed £1bn in funding.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council is being awarded £31million for its plans, which include reducing fares, increasing the frequency of services and providing more buses in the evening.
For Michael, the change couldn’t come soon enough. “The working hours, the bus connections just don’t fit,” he says. “It doesn’t serve us at all.”
During his mining days, he never had to worry about getting to work. “The mines used their own work buses, so that wasn’t a problem,” he says. “[They] really took care of you. It was a different world.”
He worries about the impact the lack of public transport will have on the next generation.
“Once they’ve gone downtown to go to the movies or something, there’s no turning back,” he says. “You will be cut off from society.”
Data analysis by Will Dahlgreen, Becky Dale, Rob England, Jonathan Fagg and Vanessa Fillis
Photography by Emma Lynch
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