The latest Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) Survey 2026 by Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) confirms what many operators already experience daily: the local road network is under severe strain, and the consequences are compounding.
According to the ALARM Survey, the backlog of carriageway repairs in England and Wales has now reached £18.6 billion, with local authorities estimating it would take around 12 years to bring roads back into reasonable condition.
Despite a 17% increase in maintenance budgets, improvements in road condition remain marginal. Only 51% of the network is in good structural condition, while one in six roads has less than five years of life remaining.
For operators running scheduled services, this isn’t a future problem—it’s a current one.
The Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) has been increasingly vocal about the impact of poor road conditions and the wider problem of poorly managed road networks, including maintenance and street works. The RAC and AA have also expressed deep concern at the state of the roads; it’s road users who are footing the bill.
The cost of poor roads is already being paid
Insight from Close Brothers highlights (shared in June 2025) the real-world cost of this deterioration. Their research found that 36% of UK motorists have experienced vehicle damage caused by potholes, with repair bills averaging £339—and often paid out-of-pocket.
These huge costs to motorists are backed up by other reports, such as Kwik Fit’s 2024 annual PIT (Pothole Impact Tracker). According to their data, pothole damage cost drivers an annual total of £1.48 billion.
Across the wider market, pothole-related damage is now costing UK road users billions annually, reinforcing the scale of the issue.
For bus and coach operators, the financial exposure is significantly higher:
Unlike private motorists, operators cannot avoid poorly maintained routes—they are contractually and operationally committed to them.
Reliability, reputation and revenue
Beyond direct costs, poor road conditions undermine service delivery:
In a competitive market—particularly for coach services and tendered bus routes—these factors can directly impact revenue and contract retention.
Stuck in a cycle of reactive maintenance
A key message from AIA’s report is the continued reliance on short-term fixes.
While councils are filling millions of potholes each year – 1.9m in 2025 apparently, the current “patch and repair” approach does not address underlying structural issues. Roads deteriorate, are temporarily fixed, and then fail again—often within months, particularly after wet winters.
This creates a persistent cycle of disruption for operators, who may find the same routes repeatedly affected year after year.
The policy challenge: Decarbonisation vs infrastructure reality
At the same time as road conditions worsen, operators are being pushed toward fleet decarbonisation.
However, there is a growing disconnect between policy ambition and infrastructure reality.
Close Brothers’ insight points out that concerns over road quality can even influence vehicle investment decisions, particularly as operators weigh the risk of immediate damage to new assets.
This is especially relevant for electric buses and coaches, which:
Compounding this, the Government is actively exploring new ways to replace declining fuel duty revenues, as electric vehicle adoption increases (see ‘eVED Consultation’)
Potential measures under consideration include:
For operators, this raises a critical concern:
Will they face higher road-use costs while still operating on a deteriorating network?
A double pressure on operators
The combination of factors creates a clear “double pressure”:
For an industry already managing tight margins, workforce challenges, and evolving passenger demand, this is a significant strategic risk.
What operators should be calling for
In its survey, the AIA reinforces a long-standing industry message: short-term funding is not enough.
Bus and coach operators, alongside wider transport stakeholders, have a strong case to advocate for:
What action is the UK Government taking?
Without sustained, strategic investment, conditions will continue to deteriorate. According to the Guardian newspaper this month (March 2026), a Department for Transport spokesperson said the report “rightly highlights the need to improve our roads. That’s why, after years of underinvestment, we’re providing a record £7.3bn in long-term funding, to help councils resurface roads and fix the pothole plague.”
At the Autumn budget the UK Government confirmed a record £7.3 billion for local highway maintenance over the next four years. The stated aim is to give councils long-term certainty, shift away from reactive pothole filling and enable preventative maintenance. The UK Government plans also suggest over £2 billion per year by 2029-30. If actioned this will be the highest sustained level of investment in local roads.
Please fill in your details below and a member of our team will be in touch with you as soon as possible.
