Better buses require better funding

21 November 2024  |  Silviya Barrett  |  Buses

Bus Service Guarantee 

We believe that all communities should have at least a minimum reasonable level of bus service, and that no community should face being completely cut off. Ensuring there is adequate bus provision is a social justice issue, and public transport should be treated and funded as the essential public service that it is. At present, local authorities have a duty to identify areas where buses cannot be run commercially but are necessary to improve social outcomes or support economic activity. While local authorities have the ability to fund these services through contracts with operators, there is no duty on them to do so. We want to see a Bus Service Guarantee introduced to help boost services in places with inadequate provision. This measure would be extremely popular with the public: 87 per cent of people agree that every community should be guaranteed at least a minimum level of bus services. Guidance for appropriate minimum levels of services depending on location, population density, travel patterns, etc. would need to be issued by the Department for Transport, along with targeted funding to help places that fall below the agreed minimum level to meet the Guarantee. 

Longer-term funding settlements 

Up to now, Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding had been allocated on a competitive basis, creating vast disparities between authorities. We had long been calling for the gaps to be closed for areas which have received less is previous years. Thankfully, the new allocations announced this week were based on need and went some way to closing the gap. However, more transparency is needed on the factors used to determine the allocations to determine whether it is the fairest way of ‘ending the postcode lottery’ of bus funding. 

However, changing the annual BSIP allocation formula alone isn’t going to be enough to bring about a ‘bus revolution’. The plethora of different bus funding streams is short-term, confusing and time-consuming to administer. The Local Transport Fund announced by the previous Government promised city region-style settlements over seven years to authorities in the Midlands and North of England, yet all local authorities need longer-term funding certainty. We think the Government should prepare long-term, multi-modal funding settlements for all local transport authorities ahead of the Spending Review, to enable more authorities to consider franchising and plan their networks with certainty. 

 Funding consolidation 

In addition, bus funding streams are very fragmented. For example, some of the Revenue Support Grant authorities receive from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government can be used to fund contracted bus services to fill gaps in commercial provision. However, this is not ringfenced and many authorities have prioritised services they need to deliver by law like social care. Instead, the proportion intended for buses should be separated out and added to the long-term bus settlements to ensure it is spent on buses. 

Another example of this fragmentation is the £460 million spent by NHS trusts on non-emergency patient transport with no coordination with local authorities and other transport providers. Better public transport around hospitals would improve access for patients, visitors and staff, while also saving the NHS money. That’s why we think the Better Buses Bill should include a duty on NHS trusts to coordinate transport provision with local authorities, bus operators and community transport providers, and invest some of their transport budget in scheduled bus services. 

The Better Buses Bill provides the perfect opportunity to deliver a ‘bus revolution’ and give communities up and down the country the bus network they deserve. We’ll be working hard over the coming months to ensure that the Bill and accompanying guidance contain all the necessary measures to make this vision a reality. 

Read our latest report: Better buses: reforming bus funding.