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A little early, but interesting to see future journey times! https://citymapper.com/news/1869/the-trams-of-the-future-now-in-the-app

Would be interesting to know of any other routes that were still operated by step-entrance buses up to the deadline, I've noticed that the Stagecoach D1 & D3 Daventry - Northampton routes had journeys marked on the timetable in 2015, couldn't have been many routes left with booked workings...

In a 10 year period bus use in Poole has gone up by 85%

In 2004: 5,331,268
In 2014: 9,819,782

Seems as though the competition and the changes are working!

The timetables and routes of Wilts & Dorset were quite complicated 10 years ago.

Funding announced for a feasibility study into a Black Country Living Museum - Dudley Zoo Light Rail link: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/rail-tourism-winners-announced

Fastest journey by bus has to be Leeds to Glasshoughton Station on Stagecoach Hull's X62,

Journey time on the 17:30 departure from Leeds = 18 mins for a journey of 15.5 miles!

Comparing this with the same journey by car, Google estimates this would take 26-45 mins, by the same route i.e. M62!

Even Rail is slower at 23 mins, making the bus the fastest mode of transport!

It's interesting looking at the bus patronage figures issued by local authority by the DfT, comparing 2009/10 figures to 2014/15 the patronage increase was greater than 5% in the following local authority areas:

West Berkshire = 44.4%
Poole = 38.6%
North Somerset = 29.9%
Thurrock = 21.9%
Milton Keynes = 20.4%
Oxfordshire = 19.1%
Bournemouth = 18.7%
Bristol = 16.2%
Reading = 16.0%
East Sussex = 15.7% 
West Sussex = 13.7%
Devon = 12.5%
South Gloucestershire = 10.5%
Slough = 9.3%
Brighton & Hove = 8.6%
Southampton = 7.8%
Bath & North East Somerset = 7.2%
Hampshire = 7.0% -
Torbay = 6.2%
London = 5.6%
Plymouth = 5.0%

There are a few interesting natural conclusions that could be drawn from this (beyond the reg/dereg debate):

Virtually all areas are in the South of England - population migration from the North of England to the South?
Booming City Centre, thriving high street and attractive place to visit?
Growth in retired population in these areas? - more free bus pass holders? - West Berkshire/Poole/North Somerset/Oxfordshire/Bournemouth/East Sussex/West Sussex/Devon/South Gloucestershire/Bath & North East Somerset/Hampshire/Torbay
London commuter belt - associated rail commuting increase necessitating bus use to/from rail stations - West Berkshire/Thurrock/Milton Keynes/Oxfordshire/Reading/East Sussex/West Sussex/Slough/Brighton & Hove/Hampshire
Growth in employment in tertiary industries (office/service based employment) - Reading/Milton Keynes/Slough/Bristol/Southampton
Constrained road network (exaggerated by presence of the coast/large river limiting the complexity of origin-destination combinations) - primarily radial network with limited city centre parking - Poole/Thurrock/Bournemouth/Bristol/Reading/Slough/Brighton & Hove/Southampton/Bath & North East Somerset/London/Plymouth

Of course this must inevitably be coupled with good quality bus services with high network density, good frequencies and good value fares.

Those areas with the greatest decline for comparison are:
Rutland = -82.4%
Redcar & Cleveland = -27.3%
Warrington = -26.6%
Stoke-on-Trent = -23.1%
Blackburn with Darwen = -21.9%
Darlington = -21.5%
Leicester = -21.2%

Food for thought....

Not really as the 87 already takes the quickest route.

I honestly think that the roads these days are to busy for X limited stop routes, the only exception that appears to work is the X51.

There are plenty of successful ones around the UK!

Leeds: 36, 840, 843, 845, X6, X62, X84, X98, X99 + Peak Only Services
Derby: Spondon Flyer, Zoom, Red Arrow, X38, Ilkeston Flyer
Nottingham: Rushcliffe Greens, Rapid 1, Red Arrow, Skylink
Bristol: X1, X2, X3, X6, X48, X74 + Peak Only Services
Glasgow: Many!
London: 507 (Red Arrow), 521 (Red Arrow), Green Line, Oxford Tube
Manchester: X5, X34, X40, X41, X43 (The Witch Way), X50, X57 + Peak Only Services
Oxford: S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S7, X3, X13, X39, X40

NX Coventry 11 Coventry - Leamington Spa
Travel DeCourcey 585 Coventry - Rugby
Stagecoach Warwickshire 26 Redditch - Stratford-upon-Avon
Stagecoach Warwickshire 28 Stratford-upon-Avon - Evesham
Hinckleybus X44 Rugby - Leicester

Some of the routes I am aware of still using step entrance deckers on a regular basis weekdays/Saturdays are:
877/878 Wolverhampton - Stafford (Select Bus Services)
701 Peterborough - Whittlesey (Judds)
X16 Coventry - Stratford-upon-Avon (Stagecoach Warwickshire)
26 Redditch - Stratford-upon-Avon (Stagecoach Warwickshire)
21 Weston-super-Mare - Taunton (The Buses of Somerset)
30 Axminster - Taunton (The Buses of Somerset)
54 Yeovil - Taunton (The Buses of Somerset)

Are there any other regular services (not school buses) that anyone knows of?

A recent example in Yorkshire: http://www.cravenherald.co.uk/news/4255421.Axed_Dales_post_bus_to_be_replaced/

See this link for a full list  :)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/tZHoQDUm1HwOAZvQhE50A5A/htmlview

Just for the record the NXC 42 is operated by Merc 0405N's on Saturdays only.  ;)

Is there any bendies left at Coventry if so what routes are they on

Up to 2 bendies can be found on the 21 in addition to the 4.

Do the 50 and 97 use deckers at night?

Both routes use deckers at night.

With just a few step entrance deckers remaining in the big groups I wondered how close we are to seeing the last step entrance decker run on a Sunday anywhere in the UK? Does anyone know of any still running on scheduled services on a Sunday?

I did hear that Stagecoach Bedford put F110NES out on a town service sunday just gone.

The only time you will drop step entrance deckers on Sundays is on rail replacement work but I think I've said before it seems the gen to that is confined to a toffee nosed spotter dlite. Failing that check out groups such as JB Tours, Independent Bus Tours or Leyland Olympian running days on Blogspot for guaranteed proper bus action

There are six other days of step entrance stage service appearances, gradually decreasing within the big fish but independents do drop some stuff if your in the right place or in the know

Stagecoach Bedford one has to be one of the most interesting!  ;)

First Leeds must be one of the few operators to do a full repaint on a step entrance decker: https://flic.kr/p/o3Z9a3 (not my photo), looks as good as new!

With just a few step entrance deckers remaining in the big groups I wondered how close we are to seeing the last step entrance decker run on a Sunday anywhere in the UK? Does anyone know of any still running on scheduled services on a Sunday?