Exclusively for Buses, PAUL HEELS has again scrutinised the PSV Circle’s monthly newssheets to produce a unique independent analysis of who was up and who was down in the UK bus and coach market in 2019 when no one could foresee the collapse in demand that the coronavirus pandemic is causing today
New bus and coach deliveries in the UK declined in 2019 for the fourth year running. They have fallen by over 30% — in excess of 1,200 vehicles — since the peak in 2015, but fell less steeply last year, by 8% against 19% between 2017 and 2018. The pandemic will make these figures look good by comparison with how 2020 is likely to end up.
Bus sales are down by around 1,700 since 2015, while coach sales have fallen by less than 90 from their peak in 2016 and increased by 7% last year.
Last year’s bus sales decline can be pinned on Transport for London, which is wrestling with financial constraints and specifying more expensive zero-emission electric buses. Nearly 350 fewer vehicles entered service on TfL routes in 2019, down to 426, just 40% of the peak of 1,070 in 2017.
Double-deck deliveries dropped by around 100 — nearly 10% — despite rising from just under 600 to over 730 for services outside London. The nu…
