Plans to fully digitise the registration, variation and cancellation process for local bus services in England outside London and to request and publish new information from operators and local transport authorities (LTAs) have been outlined in a consultation on use of powers around data enacted by the Bus Services Act 2025.
Through leveraging those, the Department for Transport (DfT) says it will create a single, open source of information about local bus services, and a system that simplifies the processes of operators inputting data and the public reaching it.
Further data from operators and LTAs will give more information to passengers, the consultation notes. An intention is to allow the public to access registration, variation and cancellation data from across England outside London regardless of regulatory regime via gov.uk. The new work will also be linked to the Bus Open Data Service (BODS).
Powers within the Act broaden the data that the Secretary of State for Transport can publish about bus service operation, including costs, staffing, and fleet information. Release of that will be possible at an operator level rather than as an aggregate and allow visibility of “previously unpublishable” data that DfT already holds.
Additional fields for bus services data proposed by DfT
New data fields proposed for inclusion within the list that can be requested include passenger journeys and trips; vehicle specification elements; cancellations and diversions; fuel efficiency; and various technical information. More timely automatic vehicle location reports are also identified as desirable.
The consultation notes that while much data about local bus services in England is already available, there is no central source, and within franchising schemes, no overarching service registration requirement.
In those franchised areas, DfT proposes to require LTAs to provide bus service data “akin to registration information” in digitised format so it can be viewed by TCs. The expected new data streams work will also capture franchised areas.
In areas subject to Enhanced Partnership with registration delegated to an LTA, there can be “multiple decentralised sources of information.” Proposed is a requirement for LTAs to provide Traffic Commissioners (TCs) and the Secretary of State with the same service information as is forthcoming when an operator deals directly with a TC on registrations.
Noted is that while operators subject to service registration with a TC already have an option to make such submissions electronically, the paper-based alternative remains most popular.
The latter is seen as being no longer fit for purpose due to the administrative burden on TCs, technical limitations, and an ambition to digitise public services. Alongside that, the current electronic bus service registration process needs updating, the consultation observes.
Full digitisation of bus service registrations in England outside London
Fully digitising the registration process “is expected to bring about benefits to TC analysis and reporting,” it continues. Among proposals is removal of paper-based applications.
Taking the service registration process fully digital and making it interact better with BODS is highlighted by the consultation as appropriate. Linking the two would permit input of information to both streams through a single centralised location where applicable.
“Operators and LTAs will be able to input data onto the system, with TCs also being given access to enable them to fulfil their statutory function as the registration body,” the consultation outlines. “The government’s ambition is also to make bus performance information more meaningful and accessible, and make a greater amount of that data publicly available.”
Publication of data at an operator level looks to empower passengers to make decisions about using bus services based on “more detailed information about the routes and vehicles available in their area and beyond,” it continues.
Statutory instruments will set out the detail required to make the revised information provision system work in practice, as well as data points and frequencies of collection.
The consultation in full is set out online. Closing date for submissions is 2359hrs on 23 September, and they can be made via webform, email, or post. DfT will publish a response in due course, although when is not noted.
