The Department for Transport (DfT) has opened two consultations – about accessibility and open data – ahead of making provisions in the Bus Services Act 2017 into new regulations.
The first, applicable to England, Scotland and Wales, concerns regulations that will require operators to provide audible and visible information on local bus services to help people identify:
– The route and direction of services
– Each upcoming stop
– Points at which diversions start or end
The DfT intends to specify when this information must be made available and to what standard, leaving it to operators to select equipment or process appropriate to their services or needs.
The regulations will aim to recognise the risks to smaller operators, marginal services and community transport.
The second consultation relates to buses operating in England (outside London) only.
In this, the DfT is seeking views on options and its proposed approach to requiring the provision of bus open data, to make it easier for passengers to access timetables, routes, fares, tickets, real-time information and the location of bus services.
The DfT says it is “keen to preserve the provenance and integrity of the data and to ensure the highest quality and timeliness of provision.
“It wishes to ensure the requirements will be sufficiently ambitious and forward thinking delivering the right outcomes for passengers, while being achievable given processes, systems and standards already in place and or available in the market.”
The closing date for both consultations is 16 September
Details at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/bus-services-act-2017-accessible-information
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/bus-services-act-2017-bus-open-data
