City professionals turn to buses to bypass C-charge

More city professionals are travelling to work on London buses to avoid the congestion charge, official figures reveal.

The statistics show a staggering number of upmarket passengers eschewing their cars in favour of the bus, with the fastest recorded growth in user numbers coming from the highest social groups.

Passenger numbers in London are increasing faster than at any time since 1945, with 1.5 million extra bus journeys a day compared with four years ago. The figures, compiled from an NOP survey commissioned by Transport for London, revealed that a third of all new bus users in the past year came from social groups A and B, including lawyers and bank managers.

Rufus Barnes, director of the London Transport Users Committee, said: "Buses used to be seen as the transport of last resort and were considered dirty, unreliable and old-fashioned.

"But services are now so frequent and reliable that people have learnt to count on them."

The success story appears to be rooted in the C-charge scheme introduced last February.

The daily £5 charge has deterred 50,000 motorists a day, leaving roads clear and enabling buses to stick to the timetable.

Unlike London, the rest of the country has seen a fall in the number of people using the buses, with the amount of journeys taken last year dropping by 0.8 per cent.