Vehicle registrations across the combined coach, bus and minibus sector in the UK reached a 16-year high in 2024, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has found.
During the year 8,390 of those were registered in the best annual performance since 2008. The figure represents a 70.1% uplift on 2023 and left the UK as the largest European market for coaches, buses and minibuses. It also led the continent in the delivery of zero-emission buses, continuing an existing trend in that respect.
Of the 8,390-unit total, 4,816 were minibuses with a gross weight of below 6,000kg – an increase of 102.5% on 2023. Single- and double-deck coaches and buses accounted for 1,973 (up by 22.5%) and 1,601 (a lift of 69.6%), respectively, although those totals are not broken down between coach and bus.
In terms of its position in Europe, the UK was comfortably ahead of second-placed Italy on overall coach, bus and minibus registrations for 2024. That country saw 6,594. Italy was also in second place for new zero-emission registrations in those classes, but the UK’s return of 1,570 – an uplift of 35.5% on 2023 – was well above Italy’s 1,175.
SMMT credits that further growth in zero-emission registrations to an expanding number of vehicle types, an ongoing commitment to decarbonisation, and support from public funding for their purchase.
Chief Executive Mike Hawes says that the 16-year high for registrations and two years of upward momentum “have cemented the recovery of Britain’s bus sector, with passenger numbers continuing to rise alongside deliveries of new zero-emission buses.”
Despite that positivity, the regional picture varies significantly. Notwithstanding a one-unit discrepancy in SMMT’s totals, 2024 registrations in Wales rose by 184.9% (to 510), by 77.2% in England (to 7,330), and by 52.4% in Northern Ireland (to 96). In Scotland, they fell by 15.6% to 453.
The South East accounted for 2,891 coach, bus and minibus registrations in 2024, with the South West in second place at 1,433. The West Midlands, North West, and Yorkshire and Humberside completed the top five, at 879, 863 and 587, respectively.
