Guidance

Demand responsive transport

Guidance for local authorities in England on how to provide demand responsive transport (DRT).

From:
Department for Transport
Published
17 December 2025

Applies to England

Documents

Demand responsive transport

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Specimen timeline - accessible version

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Specimen statement of technical requirements for Wiltshire Council’s DRT platform

PDF, 534 KB, 8 pages

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Specimen software specification for West Midlands ring and ride service

PDF, 495 KB, 11 pages

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Demand responsive transport case studies

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Details

This best practice guidance on demand responsive transport (DRT) for local authorities in England includes:

  • the basic principles of DRT, including a working definition, obligations and possible success criteria
  • a 4-stage model based on planning, procuring, launching and sustaining DRT, identifying the actions required for each
  • case studies which illustrate existing DRT schemes
  • the timeline for a typical local authority scheme and the various stages of developing typical service models

Example specification templates are provided to assist authorities in the creation of their own documents.

Rural Mobility Fund DRT trials

In 2021, DfT provided £20 million through its Rural Mobility Fund (RMF) to 15 local authorities in England outside London to trial DRT in rural and suburban areas. These schemes are participating in an ongoing monitoring and evaluation process. An interim process evaluation was published in September 2023 and the final process evaluation report was published alongside this guidance in December 2025.

Updates to this page

Published 17 December 2025

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