Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a centralised portal for guidance on registering local bus services in areas where (a) the traffic commissioner registers the service and (b) a local transport authority has been delegated to do so.

The government is committed to ensuring transparency in Local Transport Authority (LTA) and operator service delivery. The Bus Services (No.2) Bill was introduced on 17 December as part of the government’s ambitious plan for bus reform. Bill measures aim to enable public access to a new centralised database of information about local services including: those registered with a Traffic Commissioner; those registered with an LTA where registration has been delegated to the LTA, and services operating in a franchised area.

The Traffic Commissioners also publish centralised guidance on registering local bus services on GOV.UK, titled “A guide to registering and operating local bus services in England and Wales”. This guidance includes detailed information on the roles of Traffic Commissioners and LTAs, the types of services that require registration, and the procedures that apply in different areas. Where an LTA is responsible for registering local bus services in its area, the guidance provides a link to the relevant information published by that authority.