What do we see?
There is a big difference between the intensity of public transport bus use and that of other buses. The average annual kilometres travelled by a public transport bus ranges between 90,000 (2010) and 73,000 km (2020) per year. Over the years, we see a slight decrease and then stagnation; COVID year 2020 represents a downwards outlier. Other buses covered between 27,000 and 29,000 kilometres annually on average between 2010 and 2017, which is about three times less.
What’s the aim?
In principle, shared transport ensures less use of materials than private transport because a bus, if sufficiently filled and on the road as often as possible, involves far fewer materials than the equivalent number of passenger cars that would be needed to cover everyone’s journeys. In addition to occupancy, the intensity of bus use should also be as high as possible: that way, travel needs can be met with a minimum number of vehicles.
What does this indicator measure?
Bus use intensity is the ratio of the total kilometres travelled by all buses per year to the total number of buses: the result is an average increase in mileage per bus per year. For public transport buses, the basic data for this calculation are reported in De Lijn’s annual reports. Until 2017, the FPS Mobility and Transport published figures on buses for all uses.
