Bus Services Bill becomes law

Admin

October 29, 2025
3 min read

“Better buses” are on the way, the government says, as the “landmark” Bus Services Bill became law. This will mark “a new dawn for bus travel in the UK,” it added.

The move promises to end the risk of routes being scrapped on short notice by tightening the requirements to cancel vital routes. This, according to the government, is “an issue which has left passengers, particularly those who are elderly, disabled or living in rural areas, cut off and isolated from their communities.”

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Buses are the most used form of public transport in England but 300 million fewer miles were driven by bus services in England in 2024 compared with 2010 as passengers “suffering from sudden route cuts and a lack of accountability. The Bus Services Bill “will now empower councils to identify services which they deem as socially necessary.” It will mean stricter requirements need to be followed if an operator plans to cancel or make changes to them.

It will also lift the ban on local authorities setting up their own bus companies and allow them to run their own services, “to ensure that passengers, not profit, come first.” The Bus Services Act also includes plans to mandate staff, including drivers and those based at bus stations, undertake training to recognise and handle “incidents of anti-social behaviour and crime, including violence against women and girls.

Bus services will be backed by the government through further funding for local authorities, set to be agreed on in the coming weeks. Along with the plans to enable councils to start their own competing bus services, the law will also “cut the red tape holding back bus franchising,” where local authorities allow companies to operate in their area while retaining control over key aspects including routes and fares, “ensuring this model can be delivered faster.”

Local authorities York and North Yorkshire, Cornwall, Cumbria, Hertfordshire, Cheshire West and Chester are already being backed by the government as part of the Bus Franchising Pilots, aiming to explore how local authorities could take control of their bus networks and transform rural services “to work for everyone.”

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