The Buses Bill in England will be introduced within the coming weeks, the Department for Transport (DfT) said on 17 November, as it gave further details of FY2025/26 funding for bus services that was first announced on 28 October.
Total allocation for the latter now stands at £955 million compared to the £925 million that was initially cited. £243 million is now stated as going to bus operators as BSOG, while £712 million is for local transport authorities (LTAs) to improve services.
Area-specific sums have been calculated based on what DfT says is “place need.” That takes into account levels of deprivation and population.
Such an approach links to words from the Department around locations that will particularly benefit from the next round of bus service funding. Places that “have been historically underserved, like rural areas and small towns” are cited in that category.
The £955 million is “a record level of recent investment for bus improvements for the majority of areas,” DfT continues.
It will sit alongside “once in a generation reform to deliver London-style bus services to every corner of the country.” Some commentators have claimed that based on the cost of franchising in Greater Manchester, several billion pounds would be needed to do that.
However, when in front of the Transport Committee on 13 November, Secretary of State for Transport Louise Haigh underlined how franchising rollout in Manchester took a claimed six years and that reducing such a timescale is key to policy in the Buses Bill.
“The lessons learned from Greater Manchester sit behind our reforms,” says Ms Haigh. The Buses Bill in England “will dramatically speed up the franchising process,” she adds.
It is hoped that as little as two years will be needed for that under pending reform. Streamlining the audit step and boosting LTAs’ capabilities are both key to the changes, but the government will also remove some ability of operators to “block” franchising, Ms Haigh continues.
Combined, those measures will allow reregulation to be delivered where it is wanted “much more quickly and efficiently and at much lower cost.”
DfT adds that competitive bidding for bus service funding in England has ended with the £955 million allocation. That tactic was criticised by some LTAs that have not benefited in previous rounds and the government says it was “complicated and inconsistent.”
The Department claims that the new strategy gives bus operators “the certainty they have long been calling for.” That appears to be an exaggeration, with the Confederation of Passenger Transport having repeatedly sought a five-year package.
The £955 million is separate to funding to continue the national bus fare cap at £3 in 2025, and to City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements, for which an additional £200 million was allocated in the October budget.
