As the old adage goes, ‘you wait ages for a bus to turn up, and then two come along at once’.

The same seems to be true for research into bus users.

After what seemed like a while without anything chunky on bus patronage landing in my inbox, last month, our friends at Transport Focus published detailed research around the motivations and barriers to bus use.

As someone who spends a lot of my working life grappling with the difficult question of how to get more people back on buses, I always approach such research with a sense of apprehension – fearing yet more evidence which confirms the bus is haemorrhaging passengers, who prefer instead to travel by car.

The research of more than 2,000 people presented a mixed picture.

On the positive side, the research showed that the number of people who say they use the bus is higher than last year (74 per cent compared to 53 per cent last year) and the number of lapsed users is lower (11 per cent down from 15 per cent last year). This certainly chimes with figures which show current patronage is 80-90% of pre-pandemic levels across our members, showing growing confidence in bus use since Covid.

However, more worryingly, the majority of non bus-users said they don’t travel by bus because they prefer to travel by car (70 per cent). This is not all that unexpected in a transport landscape – especially outside urban areas - where the car continues to be the natural first choice. Other reasons for not using buses included being less convenient (27 per cent) and journeys taking too long (26 per cent).

But one stat really stood out to me: half of non bus-users said nothing (yes, NOTHING) would encourage them to use buses. That’s a real stomach punch for those in the industry trying to revive the fortunes of the bus.

The second piece of research, which also came out in June, was from the Department for Transport and looked at how to increase bus usage through developing strategies and policies aimed at driving behaviour change within specific groups of people.

There was still (of course!) the depressing pre-amble around how, generally, buses aren’t performing against the key transport needs of reliability, journey time and flexibility, but the research retains an optimistic tone and its audience segmentation work, based on around 8,000 survey data responses, is certainly detailed.

I’ll admit, I did snicker slightly at the names given to the different audiences, from ‘Car-Loving Critics’ and ‘Apprehensive Avoiders’ on the side of the spectrum of those least open to bus use, to ‘Sustainable Urbanites’ and ‘Pragmatic Professionals’ at the opposite end. But it’s this type of work that could offer useful insights for those charged with developing messaging and tactics to shape the actions of specific groups in relation to bus use. And there are certainly plenty of them – from their attitudes to bus and cars, what influences their transport choices, where they live, their working status, gender, ethnicity and so on.

Though no one bus user is the same as another, we do need to try to understand the motivations, preferences and thoughts of people using – and not using – the bus if we are really going to see change.

The Urban Transport Group is no stranger to this type of work, having run our own programme of research – albeit before the pandemic – on bus patronage, including how people respond to the experience of using buses and how people spend their time whilst on them.

One response to encouraging greater levels of bus use within a specific group is the DfT’s new #TakeTheBus campaign. Developed in response to statistics which show that concessionary bus journeys are still down 36% on pre-pandemic levels, the campaign is targeted at over 66-year-olds or those with a disability that is eligible for a free concessionary bus pass, and highlights the benefits of free bus travel. Given the bus is a great way to access the world-class cultural experiences, great green spaces, and brilliant places to socialise and to shop within our city regions, we support the Government’s goal to get more people using their concessionary passes.

However, Government’s strategy to increase patronage must consist of more than just communication campaigns. As I blogged in May, following the announcement on the new funding for buses (BSIP+), if Government wants buses to truly thrive (as envisaged in the National Bus Strategy) and not just survive, those ambitions must be matched by adequate funding. Actions often speak louder than words.

Tom Ellerton is Technical Manager at the Urban Transport Group

Follow Tom on Twitter.