UK roads: Record car numbers, surging vans, and declining buses. Image: National Highways / Facebook.
According to the latest vehicle licensing statistics released by the UK Government, there has been a notable increase in the number of cars on the road.
However, the growth rate of cars over recent years hasn t kept pace with that of new light goods vehicles (LGVs), including vans, which have seen a significant surge due to the boom in home deliveries.
Since the end of 2014, the number of LGVs has increased by 32 per cent, rising from 3.6 million to 4.7 million, whereas cars have only seen a 10 per cent increase over the same period.
In the last five years, the number of LGVs has risen by 14 per cent, whereas car numbers have gone up by just 3 per cent.
In contrast, the number of buses and coaches on UK roads has declined by 16 per cent since the end of 2014, dropping from nearly 169,000 to 141,300 by the end of last year.
This decline is concerning, especially given the significant investments being made to improve bus travel infrastructure, such as the construction of more bus lanes.
The decrease in bus availability may contribute to the continued reliance on cars for transportation.
On a positive note, the number of diesel vehicles on the roads is at its lowest level since 2015, which is encouraging news for air quality improvement efforts.
Sign up for personalised news
Subscribe to our Euro Weekly News alerts to get the latest stories into your inbox!
By signing up, you will create a Euro Weekly News account if you don’t already have one. Review our
Privacy Policy for more information about our privacy practices.
Originally from Derbyshire, Anna has lived in the middle of nowhere on the Costa Blanca for 19 years. She is passionate about her animal family including four dogs and four horses, musicals and cooking.
Known as the PEOPLE’S PAPER, Euro Weekly News is the leading English language newspaper in Spain. And it’s FREE!
Covering the Costa del Sol, Costa Blanca, Almeria, Axarquia, Mallorca and beyond, EWN supports and inspires the individuals, neighbourhoods, and communities we serve, by delivering news with a social conscience. Whether it’s local news in Spain, UK news or international stories, we are proud to be the voice for the expat communities who now call Spain home.
With around half a million print readers a week and over 1.5 million web views per month, EWN has the biggest readership of any English language newspaper in Spain. The paper prints over 150 news stories a week with many hundreds more on the web – no one else even comes close.
Our publication has won numerous awards over the last 25 years including Best Free Newspaper of the Year (Premios AEEPP), Company of the Year (Costa del Sol Business Awards) and Collaboration with Foreigners honours (Mijas Town Hall). All of this comes at ZERO cost to our readers. All our print and online content always has been and always will be FREE OF CHARGE.
Sign up for personalised news
Subscribe to our Euro Weekly News alerts to get the latest stories into your inbox!
By signing up, you will create a Euro Weekly News account if you don’t already have one. Review our Privacy Policy for more information about our privacy practices.
Close
