The number of bus journeys taken in Great Britain fell by more than 90 million in one year, official figures show.
In 2017-18 there were 4.8bn bus journeys made, down 2% on 2016-17.
Councils say they are “desperate” to protect services but funding cuts forced “difficult decisions”.
South-east and south-west England are the only regions to see the number of journeys increase in the past decade.
‘Nearly impossible’
Councils say they have had to reduce subsidies for bus routes due to cuts to their own budgets, which has led to services being withdrawn.
Martin Tett, the Local Government Association’s transport spokesman, said: “Councils know how important buses are for their residents and local economies and are desperate to protect them.
“It’s nearly impossible for councils to keep subsidising free travel while having to find billions of pounds worth of savings and protect other vital services like caring for the elderly and disabled, protecting children, filling potholes and collecting bins.
“Faced with significant funding pressures, many across the country are being forced into taking difficult decisions to scale back services and review subsidised routes.”
In England, the number of journeys fell by almost 85m. Scotland saw a drop of 6m while Wales recorded a fall of 267,000 journeys.
Figures for England were broken down by local authority and showed nine local where journeys dropped by at least 10% in the past year.
In Hertfordshire, the DfT figures showed there were 28.6m journeys made in 2017-18, down from 37.8m the year before and a fall of 24%.
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