The Bus Services Act 2025 amends the Transport Act 2000 and related laws to give local transport authorities in England more practical tools to plan, procure and regulate local and school bus services. Key changes: authorities can franchise non-contiguous areas and describe services more flexibly; enhanced partnership schemes must identify and protect "socially necessary" services; new duties require accessibility planning, driver safeguarding checks for school services, staff training on crime and disability, and widened data collection powers.
The Act also enables direct awards to incumbent operators in narrow circumstances and creates a mechanism to phase in only zero‑emission vehicles for certain local bus services from a date set by regulation (not earlier than 1 January 2030).
Why it matters: the Act reshapes how local services are commissioned and regulated. Compliance officers and operators will face new registration and information obligations, fresh procurement pathways (including direct awards), expanded enforcement tools for authorities (byelaws and fixed penalties), and a clear policy steer toward accessibility and decarbonisation.
For procurement teams and fleet planners the combination of updated franchising procedure, direct‑award rules and the vehicle‑registration cutoff will change contract design, timelines and capital planning.
At a Glance
What It Does
It broadens franchising powers for English local transport authorities (allowing non‑contiguous scheme areas and looser service descriptions), creates registration and permit exceptions for services under service permits, requires accessibility and safeguarding measures, allows limited direct award contracts to incumbents, strengthens data powers and mandates training; it also bars the use of vehicles with tailpipe emissions for specified local services once a regulation date (no earlier than 1 January 2030).
Who It Affects
Local transport authorities and mayoral combined authorities (new duties, byelaw and procurement powers); bus operators and PSV licence holders (service permits, registration exemptions, direct‑award rules, training and data returns); traffic commissioners (new notification and enforcement responsibilities); passengers with disabilities and school children (new protections and access requirements).
Why It Matters
The bill creates parallel routes for local control: franchising and enhanced partnerships with clearer protections for services judged "socially necessary." It also imposes near‑term operational requirements—data, training and safeguarding—that will drive administrative and capital decisions, and establishes a regulatory lever to accelerate fleet decarbonisation without an immediate blanket ban on existing vehicles.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The Act makes a series of targeted, operational changes to how English local bus services are run and overseen. It alters franchising rules so that a franchising authority can design schemes covering multiple, non‑contiguous areas and specify which services are in scope by route, place, general description or any combination; it also shortens procedural minimums in narrowly defined transitional cases.
To reduce friction between franchised services and independent permits it adds a statutory test allowing cross‑boundary and local service permits where demonstrated benefits to passengers or the local economy outweigh adverse effects on contracted local services.
For services run under service permits the bill creates registration exemptions, requires authorities to notify traffic commissioners when they grant permits, and lets franchising authorities grant temporary registration relief (so sections of the 1985 Act do not apply where an exemption is in force). It also permits a direct award of a local service contract to an incumbent operator who has been running substantially similar services for the preceding three months, subject to transparency requirements and publication of contract details within six months.Accessibility and passenger protection get a more prominent regulatory role.
Enhanced partnership plans must list "socially necessary local services" and schemes must include steps to prevent sudden cancellations or materially damaging variations without exploring alternatives. Local authorities must publish bus network accessibility plans and have to consult disabled users when preparing enhanced partnership schemes; the Secretary of State will issue guidance on stopping places, floating bus stops and related facilities.
School‑service drivers must have a recent enhanced criminal record certificate check (within three years) before driving, and operators face new duties to ensure frontline staff have recent training to identify and respond to crime and anti‑social behaviour. The Act applies certain Wales/Scotland permissions by regulation, preserving devolved competence in some areas.On data and enforcement, traffic commissioners must be told about service permits and become the designated enforcement authority for certain training and disability‑related requirements.
The Act amends information powers to require more granular returns (tickets, passenger numbers, vehicle features, costs, staff numbers) and creates an exception allowing the Secretary of State to publish historic operator data obtained under the Statistics of Trade Act after a 30‑day notice.Finally, the bill puts in place the legal framework to phase in zero‑emission buses: it prohibits operators from using vehicles with tailpipe emissions for specified local services if those vehicles were first registered on or after a regulation date that cannot be earlier than 1 January 2030. The prohibition applies to newly registered larger buses, giving fleet planners a clear regulatory horizon while allowing older vehicles to remain in service until retirement or earlier regulation.
The Five Things You Need to Know
Franchising authorities may specify non‑contiguous scheme areas and identify services by route, place, general description, or any combination—allowing more flexible scheme design.
A cross‑boundary service permit may be granted where passenger or economic benefits outweigh adverse effects on contracted local services; a similar economic‑benefit test applies to purely local permits.
Franchising authorities may directly award a local service contract to an incumbent operator who has provided substantially similar services for the three months before the award, and must publish contract details within six months while protecting commercially sensitive information.
The Act bans the use in England (and separately in Scotland) of buses with tailpipe emissions if they were first registered on or after a regulation date set by ministers; that date cannot be earlier than 1 January 2030—existing older vehicles are not automatically banned.
Operators may not permit a person to drive a school service unless the operator has, within the past three years, checked a relevant enhanced criminal record certificate showing the person is not barred from regulated activity relating to children (with an alternative check route using Police Act 'up‑date' information).
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Franchising: who can do it and how detailed schemes must be
These amendments reshape Parts of the Transport Act 2000 so that franchising authorities (local transport authorities in England) can prepare schemes covering non‑contiguous areas and specify intended services flexibly. The Act removes some prior Secretary of State consent and notice mechanics, shortens mandatory lead periods in limited transitional circumstances, and eliminates a minimum statutory formula that previously constrained how services and timings were set in schemes. Practically, this gives authorities quicker, more modular franchising options but also places more judgment on authorities about scheme boundaries and service descriptions.
Service permit criteria and cross‑boundary tests
The bill adds statutory criteria allowing authorities to grant service permits where benefits to passengers or the local economy outweigh negative impacts on contracted local services. It differentiates cross‑boundary services (those serving both inside and outside a scheme area) and local services, applying slightly different benefit tests. This creates an explicit balancing test authorities must apply when deciding permit applications—introducing a formal economic and passenger‑benefit consideration into permit decisions that may otherwise have been made on operational grounds.
Registration, permit notifications and replacement services
Authorities must now inform traffic commissioners when they grant or revoke service permits and may grant registration exemptions for services operating under permits. The Act also clarifies that temporary substitute road services (replacement buses when rail/tram is interrupted) fall within certain provisions. Those changes reduce duplication between registration law and permit regimes and create a clearer information flow to traffic commissioners, while giving franchising authorities the power to avoid separate registration where a permit already governs a service.
Assessment process and approved‑person reporting for scheme variations
Franchising authorities must obtain an independent report from an "approved person" on assessments of proposed schemes and scheme variations; the Secretary of State will issue guidance on timing, selection and independence of that person. Schedule 9A sets out a structured procedure for varying scheme areas (including assessments, consultation, and what the approved person must opine on). The requirement formalises external assurance for material franchising decisions and embeds processes to evaluate affordability, operation, value for money and potential effects on neighbouring authorities.
Direct award to incumbents with transparency duties
Regulation 16A permits direct awards of public service contracts to incumbents who have been providing substantially similar local services throughout the three months before contract entry, provided no such services are already under local service contract. Where used, the authority must publish specified contract information within six months (operator identity and ownership, contract duration, service description, compensation parameters, quality targets and environmental or accessibility obligations). This allows short‑term continuity but requires transparency to limit the risk of opaque back‑door contracting.
Enhanced partnerships: 'socially necessary' services and disability travel requirements
Enhanced partnership plans must list 'socially necessary local services'—those that enable access to essentials, economic opportunities and social activities where cancellation would materially harm access. Schemes must include steps to manage cancellations or variations that would cause such harm and to consider alternatives. The Act also creates a new scheme requirement to include measures enabling persons with disabilities to travel independently and safely, including arrangements to secure taxi/private hire carriage in certain wheelchair‑space scenarios, and imposes consultation duties with disabled users when preparing or varying schemes.
Local authority functions: accessibility plans, grants and stopping‑place guidance
Local transport authorities must publish bus network accessibility plans within a year, review them at least every three years, and consult operators and disabled users. Authorities may form local government bus companies (amending restrictions in the 2017 Act) with certain disqualification rules for paid directors where the company is under the authority's control. Authorities can now make grants to operators for local services, subject to Secretary of State guidance, and ministers must publish guidance on stopping places and floating bus stops—authorities and several highway bodies must have regard to that guidance.
Byelaws, enforcement and fixed penalties for local services and London
The Act gives local transport authorities and Transport for London powers to make byelaws regulating travel, conduct and order on local services and at bus facilities, including prohibitions on vaping and measures to prevent nuisance. Authorised persons can issue fixed penalty notices (capped at £100) and require names/addresses or removal from vehicles; failing to comply is an offence. Procedural steps for making byelaws and the Secretary of State's confirmation role are set out to ensure oversight and a route for statutory challenge.
Safeguarding and training obligations
The Act places a statutory duty on operators not to permit drivers on school services unless they have checked an enhanced criminal record certificate within the past three years (with an alternative check route where 'up‑date' Police Act information exists). It also mandates staff training (within the past five years) to identify and respond to crimes that threaten passenger safety and anti‑social behaviour, and extends disability training obligations in EU Regulation 181/2011 to local services with enforcement powers vested in traffic commissioners.
Zero‑emission vehicle requirement and regulatory carve‑outs
Ministers can set a date (not before 1 January 2030) such that buses first registered on or after that date and with tailpipe emissions may not be used on specified local services; the equivalent framework is provided for Scotland. The drafting targets newly registered larger buses, so existing fleet vehicles registered before the regulation date are not automatically excluded. Traffic commissioners gain sanctioning powers for operators who breach the rule.
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Explore Transportation in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Passengers with disabilities — the Act creates statutory accessibility planning, requires schemes to list and protect 'socially necessary' services, mandates disability‑focused scheme requirements and consultation, and adds obligations (including taxi/private‑hire fallback options) to enable independent travel.
- Local transport authorities and mayors — they gain broader franchising flexibility (non‑contiguous areas, looser service descriptions), new byelaw and grant powers, the ability to form local government bus companies, and clearer statutory levers to secure service continuity and accessibility.
- Incumbent operators — the direct‑award route and the ability to be considered for contracts where they already run substantially similar services gives incumbents a short‑term path to contract continuity without a full procurement round.
- Small and medium‑sized operators (potentially) — Schedule 9A and franchising consultation materials must explain how procurements will facilitate SME involvement, and enhanced partnership protections for socially necessary services may create opportunities for local operators to be supported or contracted.
- Passengers and local economies — the permit tests explicitly consider passenger and economic benefits, and the zero‑emission framework gives a clear regulatory horizon for cleaner services, which may improve air quality over time.
Who Bears the Cost
- Bus operators (large and medium) — compliance costs for new data returns, mandatory training and safeguarding checks, administrative costs to support traffic‑commissioner enforcement, capital expenditure to phase in zero‑emission buses for vehicles first registered after the regulation date, and potential limits on commercially driven network changes.
- Local transport authorities — new statutory duties (accessibility plans, consultations, byelaw procedure, grant administration) will require staff time, governance and potentially funding to maintain socially necessary services or to provide grants; authorities also carry procurement design and publication obligations for direct awards and exemptions.
- Traffic commissioners and enforcement bodies — increased notification and enforcement responsibilities (permits, training, disability training enforcement, zero‑emission breaches) will create workload and may require resource realignment.
- Commercial confidentiality and operators’ competitors — the Secretary of State’s power to publish historic operator data and the Act’s expanded information requirements raise commercial‑sensitivity concerns and may expose operators to reputational and commercial risks.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central dilemma: accelerate access, safety and decarbonisation through stronger local powers and binding obligations, or avoid imposing steep short‑term costs and market distortions on operators and authorities. The Act’s step‑wise tools (permit tests, direct awards, phased vehicle registration cut‑offs and prescribed training/safeguards) seek a middle way, but they force choices about who pays for transition, how competition is preserved during procurement, and how commercial confidentiality is balanced against transparency needs.
The Act balances stronger local control, accessibility and decarbonisation with significant practical trade‑offs. The zero‑emission prohibition applies only to vehicles first registered on or after a ministerial date (no earlier than 1 January 2030), which eases immediate fleet replacement pressure but complicates fleet management: operators will need staged procurement strategies and careful accounting of vehicle vintages to avoid unintended non‑compliance.
That staged approach reduces upfront political friction but creates a long tail of older polluting vehicles in service until they are replaced.
The Act also tightens information flows and transparency (publication powers, more granular operational returns, 30‑day notice for historic data publication), which improves planning and public accountability but heightens the risk of disclosing commercially sensitive data. The Secretary of State’s power to publish historic operator data and the publication requirement tied to direct awards create potential friction with operators’ commercial interests; authorities and ministers will need robust processes to protect legitimately sensitive material while meeting transparency aims.
Similarly, permitting direct awards to incumbents promotes continuity but narrows competitive routes and could be challenged as undermining open procurement unless the transparency safeguards are carefully applied.
Operationally, many of the Act’s protections (accessibility plans, lists of socially necessary services, safeguarding checks, training obligations and byelaws) require funding and administrative capacity. Local authorities are handed duties without a matching new dedicated revenue stream in the Act; decisions about which services to subsidise, how to prioritise network accessibility improvements, and how to fund alternative carriage for wheelchair users will force hard local trade‑offs.
Finally, the Act deliberately leaves devolved jurisdictions with some regulatory levers (application by regulation for Wales and Scotland in parts) and sets cross‑boundary permit tests, which will create points of friction and the need for co‑ordination between different governments and traffic commissioners when services cross borders.
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