- Coaches and medium weight buses do well but heavier buses lose ground
- Rolling year bus and coach figure 12,597, down three per cent
- Rolling year coach figures are 1,116, or up 8.0 per cent
- Year-to-date bus and coach figures 9.7 per cent down at 8,085
- Buses 3.5 to 8.5t up 23.3 per cent to 1,080 for the year-to-date>
- Year-to-date coach registrations up 11.1 per cent to 831
At 12,597 the rolling year total for bus and coach registrations was down 2.95 per cent at the end of August. The shorter term, year to date figures show a 9.7 per cent drop over the eight months. Both sets of figures confirm the bus industry’s view that operators are still not spending enough on new buses to hit the government’s fleet replacement target.
By contrast, light buses in the 3.5 to 8.5 tonne sector did well, up 23.3 per cent to 1,080 and coach registrations were up 11.1 per cent to 831 for the eight months to the end of August.
Registrations of single-deckers over 16t and of double-deckers again show how London’s buying patterns skew the figures. Coach registrations include deliveries of two fleets of service coaches. These sectors also show the effect of factory holidays and the ‘plate change’ in September.
For double deck buses the rolling year total was 1,378, 12,11 per cent down on the figure last year. The annual average registration volume for double deck buses from 2000 to 2002 was 1,206.
