Transport User Voice – October 2021 – Better buses for passengers

28 September 2021

Our National Bus Strategy work

How can local transport authorities and operators improve bus services for passengers?

The Government launched its National Bus Strategy, Bus Back Better, earlier this year looking at improving bus services in England. As part of this we’re helping local transport authorities (LTAs) develop their Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIPs) which will set out how to deliver the changes to make buses better.

The strength of the BSIP will decide if LTAs and operators can continue receiving Government funding for bus services. The National Bus Strategy is then expected to come into play in April 2022. With such tight timescales there is a big challenge ahead for many areas.

We have a huge base of research from talking to passengers about what they  want from buses. We want to make sure LTAs and operators are aware of passengers’ needs so they can improve services around them.

To help get better services for passengers, we want to engage with as many authorities as we can. We wrote to all authorities and built on our existing relationships from our previous surveys.

So far we have:

• provided a series of guidance documents
• hosted webinars with LTAs and bus operators on the guidance document topics
• developed our approach for measuring bus passenger satisfaction
• prepared to act as a statutory consultee for each Enhanced Partnership proposal
• drawn up a checklist of what we know passengers want from Enhanced Partnerships based on our extensive experience and insight.

So far, we have engaged with 69 of the 77 LTAs representing around 95 per cent of bus journeys made in England, outside of London.

Take a look at our website to see regular updates on this work including guidance documents, webinar briefings, our involvement in the Bus Centre of Excellence and the development of new passenger satisfaction insight.

 

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