LIBERTYBUS plans to double the frequency of Jersey’s bus routes over the next decade – with hourly services becoming half-hourly and buses currently running every two hours moving to hourly timetables.
The company, which began a new ten-year contract to operate the Island’s bus network last year, intends to increase frequencies commercially where possible – while potentially seeking government support for routes which cannot initially pay for themselves.
LibertyBus director Kevin Hart told the JEP that the company would “aim” to increase bus frequency commercially, but added: “If that’s not possible, we’ll be working with government to see what routes they would financially support to help them get into a position where they would become commercial in the future.”
The company is subsidised by the government, with the level of support linked to its profitability, allowing it to continue running loss-making routes which Islanders rely on to access essential services and travel around Jersey.
Deputy Hilary Jeune, chair of the Environment, Housing and Infrastructure Scrutiny Panel, welcomed the ten-year ambition as “good news for emissions and congestion”.
“This is a really welcome commitment from LibertyBus,” she said. “Increasing bus frequency over 10 years isn’t just good news for emissions and congestion, it will give Islanders a genuinely affordable alternative to running a car.”
Mr Hart said one way of increasing frequencies could be to introduce shorter variations of existing routes, which have a better chance of becoming commercially viable.
The model has already been used for the 4A, introduced last year to complement the number 4. Rather than continuing to Bouley Bay, it terminates at Trinity Village, giving passengers along that section of the route an hourly daytime service.
“That’s probably the model that we’d be looking at,” said Mr Hart. “It’s the model that would be most sustainable and the easiest way to see whether it makes money commercially and is able to be sustainable in its own right.”
He added that the number 2 service to Gorey via Longueville was another route LibertyBus would “look at again”, potentially with an additional service terminating at Grouville Arsenal or Grouville Station because of the number of existing buses continuing from there to Gorey.
LibertyBus intends to focus first on improving Monday-to-Saturday services before considering where Sunday frequencies could be increased.
Growing populations along existing routes could also create opportunities for more buses. Mr Hart said the number 9, which runs from St Helier through St Peter to Grève de Lecq and operates hourly during the middle of the day, was likely to be considered following recent housing developments along the route.
LibertyBus carried 5.4 million passengers in 2025 – around 100,000 more than the previous year – as usage returned to levels seen before the pandemic.
However, Mr Hart said the balance between concessionary and fare-paying passengers was a concern.
“This year what we’ve found is that there are more concessionary passengers travelling and slightly less fare-paying passengers, and that’s a worry for us because we need the fare-paying passengers to come in and pay for the bus service for everybody else to use,” he noted.
More than 1.16 million journeys were made in 2025 using Avanchi18 cards, the £27.50-a-year concessionary pass for under-18s.
Mr Hart said summer profits were vital to maintaining services throughout the quieter months.
“Don’t underestimate the value our buses bring to our services because they support a lot of the services that you see and everybody benefits from in the winter,” he explained. “The summer is when we make a profit and in the winter we make a loss. It is as simple as that.”
