Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department plans to take steps to regulate the frequency of bus services.

The Government recognises that frequent bus services are vital and has invested to protect them. How frequently bus services operate is a local decision and the responsibility of bus operators and Local Transport Authorities. While Enhanced Partnerships can place upper limits on frequencies, LTAs can subsidise frequency increases above the service levels provided commercially to meet local need. Since 2020, we have invested over £3.5 billion in buses, including a recently announced further £300 million to protect and enhance services from July 2023 to April 2025. Following the redirection of HS2 funding, on 23 October the government announced over £250 million will be allocated to local authorities in the Midlands to improve bus services.