Bus services: PAC report calls for new clearly communicated vision from government

- Concerns raised by PAC over accessibility for elderly and disabled people as report highlights govt's short-term, fragmented and poorly targeted funding for sector

Government does not understand why elderly and disabled people are using buses far less than they used to. In a report on local bus services in England, which have not been good enough for many years, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is calling for a clearly communicated vision for bus services, including what outcomes it wants to achieve and by when.

The report welcomes DfT's ambitions on better connectivity, accessibility, reliability, speed and safety on the network – but what will be achieved and when is still too vague. Across England (outside London), there have been 9% fewer bus journeys over the past four years, and a 15% fall in the total length of services overall since 2019-20. Given 2021's national bus strategy is no longer government policy but has not yet been updated or replaced by the current government, the PAC is calling for an articulation of what outcomes DfT wants to achieve and when.

The number of concessionary bus journeys made by elderly and disabled people is still 29% lower than in 2019-20, though fare paying passenger journeys are nearly at pre-COVID levels. Bus pass take-up has also fallen, despite an ageing population and more people being eligible. Government is not able to either adequately explain why this is, or to provide reassurance that reduced bus usage by elderly and disabled people is a genuine choice, rather than exclusion due to accessibility issues. The PAC's inquiry received evidence of the persistent barriers to bus use faced by disabled people, including lack of accessible travel information, ticketing systems and bus doors; while further evidence explained how cuts to bus services have contributed to older people losing their independence.

The report recommends that government set out its plans to address the specific barriers preventing elderly and disabled passengers from getting back on buses, and to work with local transport authorities to promote the uptake of concessionary passes.

The PAC is concerned about the slow pace of reform to bus sector funding to date. Between 2019-20 to 2024-25 this amounted to £5.9bn, in mostly short-term funding, which hindered investment, and was fragmented across 13 different grant schemes. The Department for Transport (DfT) told the PAC's inquiry that it had been overtaken by events and had wanted to avoid any sudden changes in funding that would have adverse impacts on services. DfT, which has been trying to reform its main bus grant for 12 years, expects to take another two to three years to reform bus funding.

The PAC is pushing government for plans on how to reflect the additional challenges in funding for rural areas; and given the financial pressures on local authorities, how it will ensure funding for buses, is spent on buses. Much more could be done to support local authorities' ability to deliver bus service improvements, with 46% of councils rating their capacity as poor in 2023. Funding has been provided for at least one officer for buses in each local transport authority, but the report finds this is clearly insufficient.

The report further highlights the fact that bus passenger experience is variable across the country in part due to patchy implementation of technology. The Transport Committee recently found that fewer than one in six bus users has live updates at their bus stop. The PAC is seeking answers from government on how it will seize opportunities to use technology to improve bus services for everyone, while noting care must be taken to prevent digital exclusion.

Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said: “We are now twelve years into what feels like a softly-softly approach from government to reforming its overall bus funding landscape. There is much to welcome in government's ambitions for improved bus services, but vague aspirations do not amount to a clear strategy.

“Only a clear vision from the centre - and, for councils, guidance on differing models of running services and proper accountability - can arrest further decline across the country. This Committee will also continue to push Government for plans on how to reflect the additional challenges in funding for rural areas. Without following our recommendations, government risks simply waiting in vain, just as too many passengers do, for reliable, accessible and safe buses to arrive.

“The use of bus services by elderly and disabled people has not seen the same post-COVID rebound that we've seen amongst fee-paying passengers – and government has not done the work to understand why this is. What we can continue to be certain of are the multiple obstacles still in the way of disabled people attempting to access bus services, and varying performance around the country making services less reliable for elderly people who might otherwise depend on them.”

PAC report conclusions and recommendations 

Bus services have not been good enough for many years, particularly for people in rural areas. Bus usage had long been in decline before COVID-19, and journey numbers plummeted during lockdowns. The Department took the action needed to ensure the survival of the bus sector, but it is still in recovery. In 2023-24 there were 9% fewer bus passenger journeys than in 2019-20. Bus services have been cut, particularly in rural areas, where recovery has been more challenging. Across England (outside London) the total length of bus services (measured in kilometres travelled) is down 15% compared to 2019-20. The Department has not updated or replaced its March 2021 national bus strategy, which was published under the previous government, to set out its current priorities. We welcome its ambitions for the bus network to be better connected, more accessible, reliable, faster and safer, but the Department is too vague as to what will be achieved and when.

Recommendation 1. The Department should set out how it will clearly communicate its vision for bus services. This should include setting out what outcomes it wants to achieve and by when.

The Department's funding for buses has been short-term, fragmented and poorly targeted, hindering effective investment in the sector. Over the period 2019-20 to 2024-25, the Department provided funding to the bus sector via 13 different grant schemes. Most of these were short-term allocations, which has hindered local transport authorities' ability to make effective investments in bus service improvements. Funding per head has varied significantly across the country because of the Department's decision to allocate some grants competitively. Mayoral combined authorities received significantly more bus service improvement funding (£34 per head) than county councils (£19 per head). The Department plans to distribute funding more equitably, but it has not fully considered how this should reflect the challenges of providing bus services in rural areas. The Department has taken some steps to simplify bus funding, for example by combining some grants to local transport authorities, but work to reform its main grant to bus operators has been ongoing for 12 years. Considering the financial pressures on local authorities, there is no guarantee that funding from the Department will be spent on buses if it is not ring-fenced.

Recommendation 2. The Department should, in its Treasury Minute response to this report, update the committee on its progress towards providing longer-term, consolidated funding to the bus sector and explain when it will be able to detail its plans more fully. This should include how it will reflect the additional challenges for rural areas and how it will ensure funding for buses is spent on buses.

The Department does not know how it will measure local transport authorities' performance on bus services.  Bus service performance varies significantly across the country, yet the Department does not have the data it needs to identify under-performing areas and help them improve. Such measures might include reliability, affordability, frequency or the number of bus services. Later this year, the Department plans to pilot an outcomes framework which will specify potential metrics for each local transport authority. This will help the Department to understand performance and intervene where necessary, though it has yet to determine what such intervention might look like in practice. The Department also does not have the information it needs to gain a good understanding of what its bus funding has achieved overall. While minimising unnecessary data requests, the Department still has a responsibility to collect the right data to know whether its support and funding to the sector achieve its intended outcomes. 

Recommendation 3.

1. a) The Department should, within a year, finalise a basket of measures and explain how it will use an outcomes framework to hold local transport authorities to account for their performance on bus services and support those performing less well.
2. b) The Department should develop a monitoring and evaluation plan for its portfolio of bus improvement interventions.

The Department has not yet provided local transport authorities with the information they need to understand the relative merits of different bus operating models, including franchising. Franchising (whereby local transport authorities take on more responsibility for bus services and award contracts to private operators) gives local transport authorities more control over bus services, but requires considerable time and investment, planning and commercial expertise, and introduces significant financial risk to the taxpayer. Greater Manchester Combined Authority spent £134.5 million and took seven years to franchise its bus services. The Department is testing different franchising models which offer varying levels of cost, risk and opportunity, but franchising will not be the best solution for many areas. Local transport authorities do not have the information they need to understand the pros and cons of moving to a franchised network versus making the most of the current system of enhanced partnerships with operators. Significant improvements can be made through these partnerships, which can deliver many of the benefits that passengers want. For example, in Cornwall, the local transport authority worked with operators to co-ordinate bus and train timetables and introduce multi-operator tickets, with bus usage now 40% above pre-COVID levels.

Recommendation 4. The Department should support local transport authorities to understand the benefits and risks of different models for running bus services and optimise how they work, including learning from the pilots of franchising models, providing guidance based on its review of enhanced partnerships, and promoting effective low-cost and no-cost approaches.

The Department could do much more to support local transport authorities with the skills they need and to help them apply relevant good practice. Local transport authorities' capacity and capability to deliver bus service improvements is not good enough. In 2023, 46% of local authorities rated their capacity as poor. Recognising these constraints, the Department has provided funding for each local transport authority to hire at least one officer for buses. We think that this is clearly insufficient given the increasing responsibilities of local transport authorities for buses. The Department established the Bus Centre of Excellence in 2023, to support the capability needs of local transport authorities, but its work is not sufficiently targeted to the outcomes the Department wants to achieve and the help that is needed. There can be big differences in bus service performance between neighbouring local transport authorities. The Department could do much more to identify success factors and ensure good practice is spread to areas that have similar characteristics.

Recommendation 5.

1. a) The Department should explain how it will make sure its support is targeted to the skills local transport authorities most need.
2. b) The Department should identify and share, through the Bus Centre of Excellence, best practice that is tailored for areas with similar characteristics.

The Department does not understand why elderly and disabled people are using buses far less than they used to. The Department could not adequately explain to us why elderly and disabled people have not returned to buses to the same extent as other passengers since the pandemic. The number of concessionary journeys is still 29% lower than in 2019-20. This is much further from pre-pandemic levels than for fare paying passenger journeys, which we heard are nearly at pre-COVID levels.  Despite an ageing population and more people being eligible, take-up for concessionary bus passes has fallen. The Department has not identified to what extent elderly and disabled people have chosen to change their travel patterns or whether the barriers that make bus travel difficult for these groups have increased. The Department needs a better understanding of the accessibility of the bus network, and a greater sense of urgency around improving accessibility.

Recommendation 6.

1. a) The Department should, within six months, write to the committee setting out the specific barriers preventing elderly and disabled passengers getting back on buses and its plans to address them.
2. b) The Department should work with local transport authorities to promote the uptake of concessionary passes.

Bus passenger experience is variable across the country in part due to patchy implementation of technology. The Department's open data system should enable bus passengers to access real-time information for any bus in England, but this does not match bus users' experience. Only 16% of respondents to a recent bus user survey had access to live updates at their bus stop. Some areas have introduced QR codes at bus stops to facilitate access to real-time information on bus locations. Others are using technology to prioritise buses at busy junctions. The Department has supported trials of demand-responsive transport in 17 rural areas, where smaller buses or taxis provide a link from villages into local towns, with users requesting journeys via an app. There are opportunities to use technology to improve bus services for everyone, but care must be taken to prevent digital exclusion.

Recommendation 7. The Department should, within six months, write to the committee explaining how it is helping all local transport authorities implement improvements for bus passengers through better use of technology.