Tag: buses

• Is Labour doing a John Terry?

  The Department for Transport (DfT) has – perhaps justifiably – praised councils for doing good things with the bus funding it is giving them, but once again spoiled a good news story with hype.

  On the back of announcing just £3m for six mayoral authorities to progress bus franchising, the DfT has proclaimed:

  Millions of bus passengers across England are benefitting from cheaper fares, new routes and better services as local authorities are putting government funding to work in their communities.

  With the cost-of-living crisis continuing to play a part in people’s everyday lives, local authorities are stepping up to make buses work better for everyone, reducing the burden on households.

  That’s very positive, as is:

  These schemes are all backed by the government, with more than £3 billion invested through the Local Authority Bus Grant between 2026 and 2029 – money that local leaders can spend on the things passengers actually need.

  (Apart from the baffling but seemingly obligatory reference to subsidies being an investment.)

  But is the £3bn really “record” funding, as both the DfT and minister Simon Lightwood claim? There is no evidence in the press release to back this up and I have asked the DfT to justify it.

  

  The six authorities that are getting half a million quid each are:

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  2026.04.13

• “They’ve backed the wrong horse”

  There appears to by a straightforward answer to the question “Why has the world’s first hydrogen double-decker fleet failed?” as asked by the BBC.

  The corporation reports:

  The world’s first hydrogen double-decker bus fleet has reached the end of the road.

  The multi-million pound project in Aberdeen – involving 25 buses – was meant to be the future of clean public transportation, with the city billed as the global hub for hydrogen-powered buses.

  But the zero emissions vehicles are now being ditched, along with the ambition that 700 jobs could be created.

  The council announced on Thursday evening that it was to drop its hydrogen double-decker bus fleet in favour of electric vehicles following a meeting of its urgent business committee.

  

  It is unfortunate that it hasn’t worked, despite the (too?) high hopes.

  But to answer the why? question, Colin Walker, head of transport at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, wrote on LinkedIn:

  A lot of this boils down to money. Much, much more green electricity is required to produce the hydrogen required to move a vehicle a given distance than is required to move a battery electric vehicle the same distance. Obviously, the more electricity you use, the more you have to pay – which means, in a nutshell, hydrogen vehicles cost a lot more to fuel and run than electric vehicles. And ultimately, money talks, which explains why battery electric technology is leaving hydrogen behind as the technology of choice when it comes to decarbonising vehicles likes buses.

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  2026.03.02

• MPs back backwater buses boost

  The Commons Transport Committee has welcomed the news that government funding to local authorities for bus services will take into account how rural an area is for the first time

  Although the committee described the news as an “announcement” by the Department for Transport, it was a little bit buried in a larger announcement last week of the consolidation of various existing bus funding streams into capital and revenue Local Authority Bus Grant (LABG) totalling nearly £3bn over four years.

  The webpage for LABG revenue allocations: 2026 to 2029 states:

  The individual revenue allocations were determined using a revised 2025 to 2026 formula that considered the needs of each local transport authority, taking into account population size, levels of deprivation, bus service provision and rurality. 

  

  The committee raised the issue of rural buses in its Buses connecting communities report, published in August.

  Chair Ruth Cadbury said: 

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  2025.12.10

• Smoke and mirrors on bus funding

  Ministers have announced what they are branding a “3bn boost for buses” but, as is happening increasingly often these days, it’s a continuation of existing funding – and possibly a cut – dressed up as new money.

  The good news is that:

  Multi-year funding gives local authorities the funds they need to provide passengers with lower fares, more frequent and reliable services and safer journeys.

  

  Basically, the Department for Transport (DfT) has consolidated a number of existing funding streams such as Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIP) cash and Local Authority Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) into capital and revenue Local Authority Bus Grant (LABG).

  It looks as if the funding for the £3 bus fare cap (which is short-term) is separate and, in the short term, it looks like revenue funding is lower next year than this.

  Cash for zero emission buses is also (I think) separate.

  But with funding going through city regions, it’s often hard to work this out.

  The DfT also seems to be doing quite a lot of rounding up: to get to £3bn

  Almost £700 million of funding will be allocated to local authorities every single year up to 2028 to 2029 and can be spent however they want.

  It’s worth remembering that Boris Johnson also promised a “£3 billion bus revolution” back in the days when £3bn was a lot of money.

  2025.12.05

• Bus lane amnesty in Liverpool

  The BBC reports the continuing return of bus lanes in Liverpool, noting that the city council scrapped many of its bus lanes in 2014 but started to reintroduce some in 2023.

  Proposals to create one on Longmoor Lane in Fazakerley and add one on Upper Parliament Street in Toxteth were unveiled by Liverpool City Council earlier this week.

  

  There’s a typically mixed reaction, with some councillors saying they had been given no advance notice of the plans, one resident saying it was “an absolute joke”, and another welcoming the initiative.

  Or is that just the way the BBC likes to report things?

  The BBC (via the Local Democracy Reporting Service) says the new bus lanes will cost £125,000.

  The council has said no fines will be issued for vehicles straying into the bus lanes, which they describe as “experimental”, until they have been in place for six months.

  The report includes a baffling quote from one (Labour) councillor:

  Declan Henry, a Fazakerley councillor, said: “I agree that bus lanes could really help ease congestion and encourage the use of public transport but we have to have the infrastructure in place so that public transport is a convenient and cost-effective option.”

  Yes, put infrastructure to support public transport in place before spending a hundred and twenty five grand on bus lanes.

  2025.10.17

• New moves to stop buses being held up in Scotland

  The Scottish Government has got at least one good headline from a press release today about a £20m spend from its new Bus Infrastructure Fund in the current financial year – a fund that is falling well short of the £500m promised by its ill-fated and probably fictitious predecessor.

  The Scotsman reports:

  Pioneering Glasgow City Council AI technology to cut bus journey times by up to 50 per cent

  Pioneering AI technology that could cut bus journey times by up to half is to be trialled in Glasgow thanks to £490,000 in Scottish Government Funding.

  I can’t read the story as it is behind a paywall but I note that a 2022 report from Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) states that:

  Since 2019, SPT has provided £490,000 of funding to the Council to support the roll-out of Traffic Light Priority (TLP) systems. This technology offers greater journey time reliability for buses by allocating additional ‘green phase’ signal time for approaching services.

  

  It could be a coincidence or that someone has got the wrong end of a stick.

  But of course what is new and sexy about today’s story is the addition of AI.

  It comes as Transport Scotland – an arm of the Scottish Government – announces that:

  The Scottish Government has now allocated £20 million through the new Bus Infrastructure Fund in 2025-26.

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  2025.09.10