The Transport Committee has released a statement criticising the Government’s response to its bus improvement report, claiming it shows a ‘lack of ambition and risks’ and that the Government risks ‘missing an opportunity to improve connectivity across England’.
Initially published in August of this year; the Committee’s report aimed to highlight the importance of bus services as the country’s most-used form of public transport, whilst data provided by the Department for Transport (DfT) claims that ridership has fallen by 21.7% in the 15 years leading to 2024 – with the charity CPRE estimating that over 56% of areas covered by county or unitary councils could be considered ‘transport deserts’.
Further data provided by the DfT states that in 2024; 22% of English households did not have access to a car, with the percentage rising for households on lower incomes.
Transport Committee Chair Ruth Cadbury MP said:When the Government announced its bus sector reforms last year it spoke of an ‘overhaul’ and a ‘revolution’. But its approach now looks lacking in ambition, and it is hard to shake the feeling that an opportunity may be missed, particularly to improve services in rural and underserved communities.
A number of our recommendations regarding DfT’s role in helping local areas to up their game have been misunderstood. Meanwhile, its plans for ‘socially necessary routes’, which by their nature are commercially unviable, are in danger of being left without enough funding to be effectively implemented.
Throughout our inquiry we heard about the consequences of poor connectivity. Young people unable to get their first jobs or taking exhausting journeys to reach school or college. Older and disabled people feeling isolated and depressed, and high streets starved of customers.
Any serious attempt to revive services and make public transport equitable across the country will need new funding. And yet the most targeted proposals for how to provide funding where it would make the most difference are shrugged off with a suggestion that no decision will likely come before the next Spending Review – not for another three years.
The Bus Services Act is a positive and necessary start to the work of reviving bus services, but it cannot be the last word. Local authorities need more opportunity, funding and incentives to grow their networks and passenger numbers.
In response to the report; the Government has stated it will begin implementing performance metrics to enable it to compare bus services across different parts of the country including passenger satisfaction, reliability, accessibility and safety.
The DfT has also said it will ‘consider’ adding a rural weighting to the formula used to award funding under the Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSP) scheme, as well as ‘explore’ the possibility of longer-term, multi-year funding for local authorities’ bus services as part of the next Spending Review period, although this would not be implemented until 2028 ‘at the earliest’.
The Government’s response also entertained the idea of VAT relief for companies or organisations providing demand responsive transport (DRT) services, with the DfT also agreeing to seek views from stakeholders on the implementation of a dedicated rural strand at the Bus Centre of Excellence.
However, the Committee’s calls for a free national bus pass for under-22s were shot down by the DfT, with the body claiming that it would not currently be affordable with the funding it has received during the Spending Review.
Committee MPs also called for the DfT to adopt an ambition for local transport authorities to provide a minimum level of public transport connectivity, by the end of this Parliament, supported by long-term funding, but the Committee claims that the Government’s response ‘misunderstood’ the proposal, believing it would lead to the Government undermining local authorities ability to implement their own services. This was, according to the Committee, intended to ‘set a broad shared ambition within which local flexibility could operate’, instead.
Calls for the DfT to support the provision of ‘socially necessary service’ by setting aside a dedicated portion of its bus grant funding were also dismissed; with the DfT arguing this would constrain local flexibility and risk inefficiency or overall investment.
Finally, the Committee put forward a recommendation that local authorities must be required to publish methodology for how they decide on socially necessary routes. The DfT agreed that transparency is needed, but ultimately decided that it does not agree with ‘setting a standardised’ approach, a response which, according to the Committee, misunderstands their desire, which does not call for a single methodology but instead calls for the DfT to mandate transparency around local authorities methdodology.
