Bus strategy lifts industry’s sights beyond Covid

All local transport authorities in England will have to implement either Enhanced Partnerships or franchising for bus services, under the Government’s new bus strategy. It paints a positive picture of the industry after Covid, with high frequency routes, low fares, extensive bus priority and thousands of zero emission vehicles

22 March 2021

Rapid changes to how bus services are planned and delivered in England outside London are proposed in the DfT’s bus strategy published this week, the first national plan for buses ever published by the Government.

Covid-19 had yet to strike when the Government first promised to prepare a strategy. The pandemic’s impact on transport and the wider economy is such that the strategy is starting from a very different place, with an industry reliant on emergency financial support....