Council bosses have said that passenger figures for the £91m Luton Dunstable Busway are ‘exceptionally pleasing’, despite being just 41 per cent of what was predicted for the scheme.
Latest figures reveal that the busway’s first quarter in operation, from October 1 to December 31, saw 346,854 passenger trips on the four core services.
The 2008 business case for the scheme put predicted usage at 9,000 trips day, or 279,000 for a 31 day month.
The Busway’s first quarter figures fell to just 41 per cent of the projection, which would stand at 837,000 passenger journeys per quarter.
Initial statistics reported 120,000 journeys in October- 43 per cent of the expected total.
Councillor Dave Taylor said: “We continue to be exceptionally pleased with this indication of the busway’s strong performance during its early operating period. The figures are very encouraging and, if current patronage levels can be sustained and grow at a similar rate to the Cambridge busway, it is estimated around 1.5 million passenger journeys could be made on the busway’s core services during its first year of operation.”
Passenger statistics from January to March are ‘expected shortly’.