Buses in Wiltshire are making a million miles less of journeys since 2013, the equivalent of two trips to the moon and back.

According to the BBC’s Shared Data Unit’s figures, in 2013 there were 7.32million miles of trips being made across Wiltshire, including 3.99 million that are subsidised by Wiltshire council.

However by 2016 the total number of miles had been cut to 6.21m, meaning 1.11 million fewer miles were being made, a 15.1 per cent reduction in trips.

Despite a seven per cent rise in the number of commercial trips being made, their findings show that the number of subsidised miles has been slashed by a third (33.9) in just four years.

That is the equivalent of 2.3 round trips to the moon and back.

Andrew Wickham, managing director of Thamesdown Transport said: “We understand the financial pressures that local authorities are under, and are continuing to work with both councils in Wiltshire and Swindon to minimise the impact of reduced subsidy on bus services.

“Around 90 percent of our services across the region are run at our own cost and we firmly believe the bus is the perfect answer to improving air quality and reducing congestion. In a bid to encourage more people to leave their cars at home, we are committed to making travelling by bus as appealing as possible - by investing in new, greener, vehicles and advanced technology to provide comfort and convenience for our customers.”

Wiltshire has had its network reduced by an even bigger margin, putting the county 17th in a league table ranking local authorities by their losses.

Wiltshire Council’s Portfolio Holder for Transport, Horace Prickett, took a more positive view on this.

“We are no different from any other authority except that we have managed to keep many subsidised buses going, unlike many other counties,” he said.

“97 per cent of journeys in the county have been preserved. Sometimes people may need to make a stop to get onto another bus, but they are still there.

“Also Wiltshire Council still supports 44 per cent of journeys, and when you compare that to other places like Essex, where just eight per cent of the journeys are subsidised and in Oxford where it is zero.

“I am really proud that we have been able to keep the vast majority of services going.”

Nationally, the number of miles clocked up by buses annually has hit its lowest point in 28 years. Though routes are usually set and run by commercially companies, they can be subsidised by councils where deemed unprofitable but socially necessary.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Transport said: “Long-term social and economic factors are affecting levels of bus usage. “But to encourage it and improve journeys for passengers, we provide around £250 million to support bus services every year. This benefits people up and down the country, and supports the nearly 10 million older and disabled people too.”