Press release

Consultation on bus subsidy reform

A consultation on bus subsidy reform has been launched and will run for 8 weeks.

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

In March, the government published Green light for better buses, in which we set out our plans for improving local bus subsidy arrangements and regulations in England outside London. At that time we undertook to consult on these proposals and today we have published that consultation.

Local Transport Minister Norman Baker said:

Buses are the mainstay of our public transport system and can help to cut carbon and congestion. We want to take a fresh look at the way we fund buses so that more decisions affecting local services are being taken at a local level by people who know most about the needs of their communities.

That is why we are today launching a consultation on how best to implement the changes to the Bus Service Operators Grant system which we announced in March and ensure that funding is fair and fit for the future.

I hope that those parties with views and experience to share will find the time to read our proposals and have their say on how these changes should be made.

Following the March announcement the Department for Transport set up working groups including local authorities and bus company representatives to look at the fine details of how these changes would work. This work has fed into the proposals which we are consulting on now. The consultation will run for 8 weeks.

Details of the proposals set out in March can be found in the Green light for better buses document.

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Published 13 September 2012