Bus Services Act 2025: improving information about local services

From:: Department for Transport
Published: 1 July 2026

Summary

Seeks views on using new powers to request and publish bus operators' data and develop a fully digital system for providing local bus service information.

This consultation closes at
11:59pm on 23 September 2026

Consultation description

The Department for Transport (DfT) is seeking views on using powers introduced by the Bus Services Act 2025 to

fully digitise the registration, variation and cancellation processes for local bus services
newly require bus registration type information from certain local transport authorities
request and publish new data about bus services from operators

The aim is to create a single, open source of information about a wider range of local bus services. The new system should make it simpler for operators and users to input data and easier for the public to access bus service information.

We intend to link the new information provision system to the pre-existing Bus Open Data Service (BODS).

We are seeking feedback from:

the public
local bus service operators
local transport authorities
representative organisations

We want to understand how an effective and functional system can be developed. We also want to find out what data we should collect and publish from operators.

Documents