The County Councils Network (CCN), which represents England’s local authorities, has undertaken a comprehensive review of rural bus services. It found that more than one in four routes have vanished over the last decade with passenger numbers dropping to a "historic low".

The study concludes that many services in rural areas were already in state of "managed decline" but this trend has accelerated since the pandemic.

The Department for Transport introduced its National Bus Strategy in 2021 which included plans to introduce new routes and simplify fares. It also created a requirement for local transport authorities to adopt partnerships with private bus operators or establish a franchising scheme.

But the CCN report said that the “much-vaunted” strategy has done little to address the decline in the number of services.

This is because two-thirds of the government’s £1.1bn to address the issue went to urban areas. These areas benefited...