Bus giant Stagecoach has reported that business is booming after recording a 10 per cent increase in passenger numbers in one year.

The firm has revealed it carried 26.2 million customers around the county between 2007 and 2008, adding 2.3 million to the previous year's total.

In Peterborough, 9.7 million rode the buses last year compared with 9 million the year before and 8.1 million in 2005-06 – a rise of 16 per cent over the three-year period.

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Managing director of Stagecoach Cambridgeshire Andy Campbell said the growth could be explained by a number of factors and was not simply due to escalating fuel prices.

He said: "It's down to a number of things – the changes we made to the network in Peterborough when we introduced the Citi services, putting more vehicles on and having low floor buses on the whole of the Citi network, which are wheelchair accessible.

"Passenger numbers have been rising since before fuel really began to go up, so it's not that."

In its annual report, Stagecoach Cambridgeshire says it ran 64,000 checks on its journeys last year and 92 per cent met industry punctuality standards.

The biggest cause of late buses was congestion, which accounted for nearly 40 per cent of problems.

Mr Campbell said crowded roads were less of an issue in Peterborough than elsewhere, but were still a growing headache.

He said: "The main difficulty is maintaining that punctuality as congestion worsens. It's not as bad in Peterborough as in Cambridge because of the parkway set-up, but I would say it's getting worse.

"I think it's down to the sheer volume of traffic, the expansion of housing and more and more people coming into the city of Peterborough."

On the plus side, Mr Campbell said the reorganisation of the bus network in Peterborough in 2004 and the introduction of the easy-to-understand Citi bus routes had encouraged people to hop aboard.

He added that the 50 low-floor buses which Stagecoach runs in the city, which are able to "kneel" at the kerbside, are a boon to wheelchair users and mothers with pushchairs.

He also cited training given to drivers on issues like customer care and disability awareness, and the value offered by £3 Dayrider and £10, week-long Megarider tickets, which allow passengers to make unlimited journeys.

Chairman of the Spalding and Peterborough Transport Forum George Scott welcomed the rise in bus use.

He said: "With the congestion in Peterborough, anything that encourages people to take public transport and means more cars off the road and more cyclists on the road has to be a good thing.

"But the cost of using the bus has to remain consistent or even go down to encourage people. And rural bus services have to be more frequent."

Your comments:
KAYLEIGH HIBBARD (21), of Wittering:
"You don't have to worry about car insurance and stuff. The downside is that on Saturdays they run at funny times and on Sundays there are hardly any.

PAULINE ANDREWS (68), of Wansford:
"I think the buses have got better. The only trouble is that if you
want to go to Cam- bridge, it takes about three hours to get there."

ROY FLINTOFT (65), of Nassington:
"I get the bus twice a week and it's all right. Sometimes it's three or four minutes late, but it doesn't bother me. I just show my bus pass and that's it, I'm on."

TANYA BAKER (21), of Wittering:
"I used to use the buses a lot, but now I've got my car, I drive. I'm only on the bus today because my car's not working. The bus is fine, though, and it's not that expensive."

MAUREEN CLARK (62), of Stamford:
"The service is quite good and runs every hour. We could drive, but we only use the car on Sundays as my partner has got a bus pass as well, so we both travel for free."