MORE than five million bus journeys were made in Jersey last year, with usage close to pre-Covid levels, new figures have shown.
A total of 5.01 million passengers were transported by LibertyBus during 2023 – just 30,000 shy of the 2019 figure of 5.04 million.
The operator, which has been running the Island bus since 2013, announced “excellent passenger growth” and said this was derived from efforts to continuously monitor passenger feedback and improve services.
The company’s director, Kevin Hart, said that some UK operators were “shouting from the rooftops” after passenger numbers recovered to 90% of pre-pandemic levels. The comparative figure for Jersey was 99.4%.
While commuters accounted for 31% of total passenger trips, with a reduction caused by higher levels of work at home, Mr Hart said leisure trips had grown to 37%. There has also been a significant increase in student numbers since the introduction of a flat fee of £20 a year, he added.
“We are immensely proud to witness such excellent growth in ridership,” he said. “We are always reviewing usage levels and looking to provide more options where we can, including extra services on Sundays and evenings.
“We are doing everything we can to curb the amount of traffic on the roads, and we will introduce more transport services if necessary.”
Infrastructure Minister Andy Jehan said: “It’s brilliant news to see the number of Islanders taking the bus back to pre-Covid levels, despite more of our working population now working from home .
“As someone who uses the bus, I have seen firsthand the increased numbers on the bus, and we continue to work closely with LibertyBus to ensure that public transportation serves the Islanders.”
Senior management at Lothian Buses in Scotland recently announced “strong performance” during 2023 in the Route One business media. This saw 110 million passenger trips made last year, compared to 124 million in 2019.
