Bus service reviews: consulting on changes to local services – progress report

16 February 2017

This report builds on our 2012 best practice toolkit​ which originated from a recommendation from the House of Commons Transport Committee report Bus services after the Spending Review, which asked us to develop a consultation toolkit, for local authorities. The aim was to “provide best practice guidance on how local authorities can hold meaningful consultation processes with local communities about bus service proposals”.

Our report looks at how local authorities formulate proposals, how they consult with passengers and how they considered and then communicated the results of the exercise. The report includes examples of best practice that we had identified from our discussions with local authorities.

With public money in ever-shorter supply, the cuts agenda continues unabated among local authorities and the need for bus users and others to have a say on how money is spent remains at least as important as it was five years ago. Indeed, given that the Bus Services Bill envisages public consultation on partnership agreements and franchising, it is clear that the requirement to consult is not going to go away. So local authorities need to get better at it.

So, four years on from our original report, we thought it timely to take a fresh look at how local authorities consult passengers and the wider community.

Click the link below to download the report or to view the associated local authority case study consultation documents click here.

Bus service reviews consulting on changes to local services - progress report
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