Policy paper

The government’s vision for buses and approach to delivery

Published 2 April 2026

Applies to England

The role of buses in a decade of national renewal

Buses are the most used form of public transport in England. They play a vital role in:

• the integrated transport system envisaged in Better Connected: a strategy for integrated transport
• delivering our missions to kickstart economic growth, break down barriers to opportunity and make Britain a clean energy superpower

Buses are therefore a vital public service, and so there will be no return to the situation where the bus service was delivered and marketed in an uncoordinated way.

Places like Greater Manchester, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Leicester show in their different ways how joint working and targeted investment can transform the local bus network’s offer to the passenger and help support our decade of national renewal.

Our vision

Our vision is of a bus service:

• which is attractive to, accessible to and well used by everyone in the community
• where the needs and priorities of bus passengers (both existing and potential) are front and centre of everything those involved in delivering the bus service do

We want all people to have access to necessities and opportunities, including access to workplaces to take up employment, whether or not they have access to a private vehicle (some of the time or all of the time), and whether or not they are disabled. A successful local bus service helps make this possible.

The best way to make the local bus service successful is for it to have a strong revenue base of passengers. This requires it to be attractive to everyone in the community, including those who do have a private vehicle available, for those trips where taking the bus can work for them.

A town, city or rural area with an attractive and well-used bus service can and should be a place which offers opportunity and a quality environment, is thriving and in which people and businesses want to invest.

We will work with local authorities and bus operators in England to grow bus usage by improving services. By the end of this Parliament, our aim is that more people will take the bus because:

• they provide the connections they need – particularly to get to work, school or college, to access healthcare, to get to the shops and to opportunities for recreation
• services are more reliable, and they trust that their bus will turn up on time and that buses are available when they are needed
• they are, and feel, safe – especially women and girls – throughout their journey
• services are faster – particularly in towns and cities
• buses are better integrated into the wider transport system and it’s easy to make a journey using different transport modes
• they have accurate, accessible and easy to understand information when and where they need it, including when services are disrupted
• disabled people feel that bus services, including information, roadside infrastructure, vehicles and on-board assistance are more accessible and enable them to travel independently and in safety and reasonable comfort
• tickets are affordable, including for younger people, in both urban and rural areas
• it is an increasingly climate and environmentally friendly choice

Delivering our vision

Buses are a public service best delivered at the local level, recognising that every place is unique with its own characteristics and preferences. We can only achieve our vision and priorities for improving buses through the hard work and commitment of local authorities and local bus operators.

The Bus Services Act 2025 broadens the range of tools available to local leaders to improve their bus services whilst the 2025 Spending Round settlement provides certainty over the level of government funding available for their area. Local leaders can now decide how to prioritise funding towards the things that matter most to passengers in their area, setting this out in delivery plans.

DfT, as custodian of the bus system at the national level, will oversee the national picture of how funding is being used and the outcomes that are being achieved, with local transport authorities (LTAs) reporting progress against a common set of indicators of bus service performance.

We are:

Empowering and expecting local leaders to deliver better bus services in the way that best suits their area, whether that’s through:

• bus franchising
• setting up new local authority bus companies
• delivering more effective local partnerships with bus operators through strengthened enhanced partnerships which better protect socially necessary service

Investing over £1 billion per year in better bus services from 2025/26 to 2028/29, including through keeping bus travel affordable by extending the £3 national bus fare cap to March 2027. Alongside DfT bus funding is £19.6 billion of longer term guaranteed capital funding for local transport over 4 to 6 years to 2029/2031. 

Local leaders are empowered to spend funding according to local priorities, including by supporting:

• new routes
• improved frequencies
• faster and more punctual services
• lower fares
• new vehicles
• high quality passenger information
• better bus stops and interchanges

Driving improved performance and outcomes through enhanced transparency. We are establishing a new accountability framework:

• showing how local authorities are delivering against priority outcomes aligned to what passengers care about most
• expecting all LTAs to take part in the annual ‘Your Bus Journey’ customer satisfaction survey
• strengthening enforcement of bus punctuality and reliability

Supporting local authorities to deliver bus networks built for everyone by:

• embedding proactive consultation with disabled people and organisations representing them
• publishing regular assessments of network accessibility and future plans for improving it
• a requirement to pay regard to new statutory guidance on the design of bus stations and stops, including floating bus stops

Improving passenger information and ticketing by:

• improving data to give more passengers access to accurate real-time passenger information about when their bus will arrive
• improving the convenience of ticketing

Driving bus decarbonisation by:

• speeding up the transition to zero-emission buses
• legislating to end the use of new diesel buses on local bus services in England and Scotland
• establishing an order pipeline to give manufacturers the certainty to plan investment

Empowering and expecting local leaders to deliver better bus services

In line with the reforms to local government set out in the government’s Devolution White Paper, we are empowering local leaders by devolving decision-making power and, through the Bus Services Act 2025, broadening the range of tools in their toolbox to achieve their objectives. 

We are also clarifying our expectations of local leaders in terms of the outcomes they achieve for bus passengers and the wider public, whichever delivery model for local bus services they choose, and providing support to help them achieve these outcomes through the Bus Centre of Excellence.

The list of publications and planned publications below provide an overview of our policy in each topic area. Please note that some links will be updated when the relevant documents are published over the coming months.    

Quicker and easier franchising powers

We are making bus franchising quicker and easier to deliver through changes implemented in the Bus Services Act 2025, and providing new support and assistance to LTAs.

Document	Description
Setting up a bus franchising scheme	Guidance for local transport authorities in England on how to set up a bus franchising scheme to improve local bus services.
Bus franchising manual	Practical advice to support local authorities with the bus franchising process.

Stronger enhanced partnerships (EPs)

EPs can bring operators and LTAs together to drive ambitious improvements for passengers and we want to ensure more EPs across the country reach the standard of the best, spreading best practice in delivering for passengers.

Following our review of enhanced partnerships, we are setting new minimum standards for EPs as a condition of future bus grant, and under the Bus Services Act 2025 we are better protecting the availability and quality of socially necessary local bus services.

Document	Description
Report of the review of enhanced partnerships	Reviews the effectiveness of enhanced partnerships (EPs) within bus services in England.
Enhanced partnerships guidance	Guidance on developing and delivering stronger enhanced partnerships. Due to be published spring 2026.
Enhanced partnerships manual	Practical advice and examples of best practice in delivering successful bus partnerships. Due to be published spring 2026.

Local authority bus companies (LABCos)

LABCos offer local authorities the potential to own a bus operator, putting benefit to the local community to the front and centre of its business model, whilst retaining incentives to generate revenue and control costs. The Bus Services Act 2025 lifts the ban on setting up new LABCos.   

Document	Description
Setting up new local authority bus companies	Guidance to local authorities regarding setting up new LABCos. Due to be published in 2026.

Local transport plans (LTPs) and bus service improvement plans (BSIPs)

Each LTA is required to prepare and publish an LTP setting out its objectives, policies and programme for local transport in its area. The government asks LTAs, including those who have or are moving towards bus franchising, to publish an up-to-date BSIP which is in line with, and expands upon, the LTP, setting out its vision and plan for improving the local bus network.      

Document	Description
Local transport plan (LTP) guidance	Guidance for local transport authorities on producing their statutory local transport plan, setting out their local transport policies and how they will implement them.
Bus service improvement plan (BSIP) guidance	Guidance for local authorities and bus operators on maintaining an up-to-date plan for improving bus services and growing bus patronage in their area. Due to be updated spring 2026.
Local Transport Note 1/24 – bus user priority	Guidance for local authorities on how to identify good practice and new technologies that can be used to support bus user priority.

Investing over £1 billion per year in better bus services

The government is investing over £1 billion per year in bus services from 2025/26 to 2028/29. 

We have replaced short-term, competitive pots for DfT funding with a simplified and consolidated set of 3 DfT bus-funding streams. From 1 April 2026, these are:

• local authority bus grant – bus funding for LTAs with capital and revenue elements, allocated according to needs-based formula, consolidating all previous DfT bus grants for local authorities
• Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) - paid to commercial and community bus operators, either by DfT or by LTAs where this funding has been devolved
• the £3 national bus fare cap – reimburses bus operators participating in the £3 cap on single fares, which has been extended to March 2027

The Bus Services Act 2025 provides new powers to local transport authorities to make their own grants to local bus operators.

Document	Description
Local authority bus grant allocations	Funding allocations for local transport authorities to provide bus service improvements.
Using bus grant payment and design powers	Statutory guidance for local transport authorities on how to set up grants for operators of local bus services.

Driving improved outcomes

From April 2026, there will be a new accountability framework for all LTAs. This will include, for each LTA, an outcomes framework - a common set of indicators to measure performance against DfT’s objectives for the funding, which have been tested with LTAs and aligned with what passengers care about most

We are developing and will publish a comprehensive list of the data we expect to have from each LTA, both to achieve accountability and transparency and to inform our understanding of best practice. This will draw from various sources, including official statistics and the Bus Open Data Service (BODS), as well as LTA data.   

We will support and incentivise LTAs which are making less progress in delivering for passengers in line with our vision for buses, or who are not meeting the expectations associated with our funding.   

Document	Description
Bus data requirements on local authorities	Due to be published in 2027

Reducing crime and anti-social behaviour on buses

The Bus Services Act provides new powers to LTAs to introduce new byelaws to deter and penalise crime and anti-social behaviour both on buses and at stations and stops and we encourage LTAs to use DfT bus funding to develop and enforce them. The act also requires the bus industry to upskill its staff to identify and respond to acts of crime and anti-social behaviour.   

Document	Description
Bus byelaws guidance	Guidance to local transport authorities on introducing and enforcing local bus service byelaws. Due to be published in 2026.
Training of staff about crime and anti-social behaviour	Guidance on training bus industry staff on how to identify, respond appropriately to and, where it is safe to do so, prevent crime, anti-social behaviour and violence against women and girls. Due to be published in 2026.

Accessibility and inclusion

The bus system must be accessible and safe to use for all members of the community, including disabled people.

The Bus Services Act requires LTAs to consult upon and publish a bus network accessibility plan setting out their assessment of, and plans to improve, provision to enable disabled people to use bus services independently, and in safety and reasonable comfort.

Authorities introducing new franchising or enhanced partnership schemes will be required to consult specifically with disabled people or organisations representing them.

Authorities must assess the extent to which enhanced partnership requirements enable disabled people to travel independently and in safety and reasonable comfort.

New rules will require both drivers and customer-facing staff of bus operators to complete disability awareness and assistance training.

The government will introduce new guidance on the safety and accessibility of stopping places, to which authorities will be required to have regard. The government has already issued new guidance on the design of ‘floating bus stops’, where a cycle track and a bus stop intersect.

The government has also written to authorities asking them to pause the provision of new floating bus stop installations, where a passenger would need to step directly into a cycle track when boarding or alighting a bus, pending new statutory guidance.  

Document	Description
Floating bus stops provision and design	Statutory guidance on the provision and design of bus stops where a cycle track and bus stop intersect.
National guidance on the safety and accessibility of stopping places	Guidance for authorities responsible for the provision of stopping places, on the design of safe and accessible bus and coach stations and stops, including statutory guidance to which specific authorities must have regard. Due to be published winter 2026.
Guidance on the development, review and publication of bus network accessibility plans	Guidance to local authorities on meeting their statutory duty to publish bus network accessibility plans, including an assessment of existing bus network accessibility and the identification of actions for improving it further. Due to be published in 2026.

Improving passenger information and smart ticketing

Technology opens up tremendous possibilities to improve bus passenger information, including in real time, and the convenience of ticketing.

DfT’s Bus Open Data Service (BODS) permits anyone to freely use and distribute bus timetable, fares and real-time vehicle location data which bus operators must by law provide. Increasingly, this is being turned by app developers into reliable journey planning tools and real-time information on bus arrivals and departures at all bus stops in the country.

We are also working with partners to deliver Project Coral, a national technology solution to facilitate multi-operator ticketing on buses and trams, focusing on ‘tap and go’ with contactless bank card payments and daily fares capping.  

Driving bus decarbonisation

The full transition to zero-emission buses (ZEBs) is a vital part of the government’s plan to deliver net zero, as well as delivering smoother, quieter journeys for passengers, cleaner air and lower noise levels in the street, and lower running costs for operators. DfT supported the UK bus manufacturing expert panel to help establish a long-term order pipeline to give planning certainty to manufacturers.  

Document	Description
10-year zero emission bus order pipeline	Brings together data on anticipated zero-emission bus (ZEB) orders from local transport authorities and bus operators.
UK bus manufacturing expert panel: mayoral commitments on zero emission buses	The agreed mayoral commitments flowing from the work of the UK bus manufacturing expert panel, which ran from March 2025 to March 2026.

Improving connectivity

We encourage LTAs to explore how alternative types of public transport, including community transport and demand responsive transport, can complement fixed timetable bus routes to improve connectivity for people. 

Document	Description
Demand responsive transport	Best practice guidance for local authorities on introducing and developing demand responsive transport.