11th October 2021 – The Department for Transport (DfT) has updated guidance to local transport authorities (LTAs) and bus operators on Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIPs), which LTAs are required to publish by this month.

The guidance explains how LTAs should outline their funding requirements (both capital and resource) to deliver the expectations set out in the National Bus Strategy.

They should provide an indicative view of potential local authority and operator priorities for additional government funding.

The guidance states: “We do not expect BSIPs to provide detailed definitive costings. BSIPs will enable the government to understand the appetite for transformational investments to support the bus sector in the funding period and beyond 2025.”

The strategy sets out an ambitious vision to dramatically improve bus services in England outside London through greater local leadership, to reverse the recent shift in journeys away from public transport and encourage passengers back to bus.

LTAs and local bus operators must work together with local communities to plan and deliver a fully integrated service with simple, multi-modal tickets, more bus priority measures, the same high quality information for all passengers in more places, and better turn-up-and-go frequencies that keep running into the evenings and at weekends.

A BSIP is the essential first step as it will be the extent of the ambition, delivered through an Enhanced Partnership or franchising, that will be critical when Government decides how new funding is allocated.

Read the full announcement: BSIPs guidance 11/10//21