GovWire

The government is determined to deliver better bus services, grow passenger numbers and drive opportunity to under-served regions.

As part of this, it has committed to put bus services back into the hands of local leaders by removing barriers that currently limit the bus franchising process.

The bus franchising guidance sets out how the franchising legislation operates in practice and sets out the statutory duties that a franchising authority or auditor must have regard to in exercising relevant functions of the guidance.

The consultation seeks views on updates to the guidance to remove more technical barriers to franchising and support safer and more accessible services.

This page contains:

• a consultation document with details of proposed changes and questions about the proposals
• a copy of draft revised franchising guidance to reflect the new process
• a link to an online form for you to respond to our questions

Read the consultation document alongside the draft revised guidance and respond to the questions to tell us what you think.

Alongside publication of this consultation, we have laid a statutory instrument in Parliament to open up franchising to all local transport authorities.