LABOUR is failing badly on its pledge to boost bus travel with an 11 per cent fall in passenger numbers in the North-East, a damning report concludes today.

The region has experienced the biggest slump in bus use anywhere in England since 2000, according to a joint study by the National Audit Office and the Audit Commission.

With North-Easterners turning their backs on buses, the Department for Transport (DfT) was set to miss its target to increase journeys in the region by 2011, the report said.

It was only in London - where bus use was up 32 per cent between 2000 and this year - that passengers numbers had increased.

However, the watchdogs stopped short of recommending the re-regulation of services, the demand of many local authorities who want the power to pick bus operators and decide routes and fares.

Instead, they demanded "strong local leadership" of the type displayed by London Mayor Ken Livingstone, who has made bus improvements a priority.

The report urged councils to work more closely together to introduce attractive fares, including extending free travel for pensioners across local authority boundaries.

Making performance information more readily available and transparent to local communities would also make bus travel more popular, the report said.

James Strachan, the Audit Commission chairman, said: "Buses are an important lifeline for many people and help reduce congestion in towns and cities."

The doomed elected North-East assembly had been promised the power to choose operators and routes, but its creation was rejected by voters in a referendum last year.

The report concluded the DfT would meet its target of 12 per cent growth in bus and light rail use across England by 2010 - but only because of the big increase in London passengers.

The average fall in bus journeys outside London was seven per cent, with the West Midlands (nine per cent) and East England (eight per cent) the next worst-hit areas after the North-East.