I’m often asked “What is the county council doing about bus services?” or I’m asked to intervene to get a bus timetable changed or a bus service re-routed.  I’m always happy to help where I can but it is not always possible to respond in quite the direct way that some people imagine. 

The County Council doesn’t run bus services whatever some people may think!

 Bus services in the UK are provided by privately-owned commercial bus operators.  Just like any other business, it is first and foremost their decision what ‘products’ (i.e. routes) to sell and what to charge for them.

 Since 1985, any bus operator can run any commercial service it chooses, setting routes, times and fares and deciding for itself what sort of bus or coach to run on the service.  All an operator has to do is ‘register’ the route and timetable with the Traffic Commissioner (not the County Council) and give 56 days notice of their intentions.

 Most bus journeys in Oxfordshire are commercially-provided on this basis with no subsidy from the County Council.  The County Council has no control over commercial bus routes and cannot set or change times, routes or fares.

 Subsidised routes

Where the County Council can have an influence is where it ‘buys’ from bus operators certain extra services that would not be provided commercially – these would be typically late evening or Sunday services or bus routes in very rural areas where there is insufficient demand to make such journeys commercially viable.

 The 1985 Transport Act gives County Councils the duty to consider whether there are social needs for transport which are not being met by commercially-registered bus routes and obliges them to seek bids by competitive tender to run such services.  

 On these services, the County Council can decide the route, times and other details of the services (although we must not undermine commercial bus services with which these services might compete). 

 The County Council pays an agreed sum for these services to the operator who submits (usually) the lowest bid for financial support.   Most contracts like this are let for four years and all financially-supported services in a given area are reviewed and, if necessary, re-tendered at the same time.

 The County Council is obliged by law to invite competitive tenders for most subsidised bus services.  As a result of the complexity of the process laid down by Government, it is not normally possible to make major changes to subsidised bus services between the scheduled four-yearly reviews.  However, these reviews include extensive consultation with parish councils and others and that is generally the best time for local people to let us know about changes which they believe are needed.

 Information

The County Council does have the power to set standards for the information to be provided for both commercial and subsidised services and to require a bus operator to put right any shortcomings.  Details of the standards of information provision that we require can be found in the published Information Strategy for Bus Services produced by the County Council.

 Low-floor buses

Many bus services in Oxfordshire are run with low-floor buses which are easily accessible by people in wheelchairs and enable parents with young children to push their child-buggies directly on and off the bus without having to fold them.  All new buses must now be low-floor.  However, bus operators can still run older vehicles until 2016 for single-deck buses, 2017 for double-deck buses or 2020 for coaches.  After that date all buses and coaches must be low-floor.  The County Council encourages bus operators to run low-floor buses now but has no power to compel their use.

 Senior citizens

Senior citizens and people with certain disabilities qualify for concessionary bus passes which nowadays offer free bus travel (from 1 April anywhere in England!).   These passes are issued by the District Councils which sets their own criteria for the use of the passes.