Go-Ahead sees increasing demand for bus and rail travel

The group, which has a fleet of 3,800 buses and is part of a joint venture responsible for Southern, Southeastern and London Midland rail services, said it saw no reason to change its forecasts for the year to the start of July, despite last week's spending review and the uncertain economic climate.

The update came as Go-Ahead announced that chief executive Keith Ludeman planned to retire next year following 40 years in the transport industry. He has spent 15 years with the company and took the helm in 2006.

Mr Ludeman's replacement in July will be David Brown, who is currently in charge of Transport for London's above-ground operations, such as buses, the management of strategic roads and the mayor's cycle hire scheme. He was chief executive of Go-Ahead's London bus business from 2003 to 2006.

Mr Ludeman said: "Even in the current economic climate, we continue to see good growth in patronage in our rail and bus operations."Outside London, like-for-like passenger numbers on Go-Ahead's deregulated bus services were 3 per cent higher on a year earlier between July and the end of October, leading to a 4 per cent rise in revenues.

The figure for the Southern rail service was 6 per cent higher after a 4 per cent rise in passenger journeys on a year ago, while Southeastern's revenues were up 10 per cent against a weak period last year.

Most of the increase was due to additional journeys, including those generated by high-speed services between the Kent coast and London following the launch of the operation in December.

Growth in the London Midland franchise continued to be strong at just over 7 per cent.