(31 Mar 2026, 9:51 pm)Busadvocate wrote If these are from national statistics or counted in the same way as they are there, the bus passengers will be counting each passenger once (passenger boardings in R&C), but the rail data will be counting "exits and entrances" (boardings AND alightings), so one passenger journey is counted twice. Essentially, to make them comparable you need to double the bus passengers, so there are over 5 times as many bus passengers. Even so, the relatively high proportion of rail passengers (about 1 in 6 of all public transport passengers) is quite striking. 
The very modest increase in bus travel is a bit disappointing given that 24/25 will have had the national fares cap and the local "21 and under" capped fare. I wonder what the equivalent figures will be for other areas of the north east?

To be fair the cap down there is probably actually negative.

£6 for a return from somewhere like Eston to Middlesbrough isn't good value imo, and without checking there's nothing cheaper these days. Is it much of a surprise that numbers are down and that's before mentioning Redcar was a shambles and cancelling services left, right and centre

The fare cap is questionable as £3 is only good value, if you're travelling a long distance, but within cities/towns etc it's bad value imo.