The Department is issuing amended bus patronage figures for the year 2001/02 for three Passenger Transport Executive areas.
A National Statistics Quality Review of the Department’s bus and coach statistics recommended that differences in the estimates of bus patronage made by the Department and individual PTEs should be investigated.
Each of the PTEs produce their own estimates of patronage by grossing up from on-bus surveys. The methodology and scope of the surveys varies from one PTE to another. DfT figures come from a survey of bus operators and are in some cases on a slightly different basis - for example, the DfT figures exclude some school travel and children under 5, which are included in some of the PTE surveys.
The Department has discussed estimates with individual PTEs and subsequent investigations have revealed mistakes in the operator reporting in some of the PTE areas. These have been followed up with the operators concerned. We have concluded that changes need to be made in three of the PTE areas; Merseyside, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands.
Click here for the amended bus patronage figures for 2001/02.
