{"id":43338,"date":"2025-10-31T14:47:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T14:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/?p=43338"},"modified":"2026-06-15T14:43:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T13:43:47","slug":"bristol-bus-franchising-takes-step-closer-thanks-to-new-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwejournalism.net\/bowernews\/2025\/10\/31\/bristol-bus-franchising-takes-step-closer-thanks-to-new-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Bristol bus franchising takes step closer thanks to new law"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The m1 bus on East Street <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bristol and the West of England may finally franchise their bus system thanks to a new law passed this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2025 Bus Services Bill streamlines the franchising process, and empowers authorities to create municipal bus companies and regulate private bus networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before 1985, buses in the UK were largely run by local authorities, but Margaret Thatcher\u2019s Conservative government deregulated and privatised these services outside of London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 2017 law outright banned councils from starting municipal bus companies but also gave combined authorities in England the ability to franchise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recently passed law also widened the franchise opportunities to local authorities, such of the City of Bristol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A MetroBus on a bus-dedicated road in south Bristol – Photo: Reecy Pontiff<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Currently Bristol and the West of England\u2019s buses \u2013 operated by FirstBus \u2013 run under an \u201cEnhanced Partnership\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have this split where companies run the actual buses, but the infrastructure that the buses need, like the roads, the bus stops, the information boards, all of that stuff, is the responsibility of the local government,\u201d says Emilia Melville \u2013 coordinator of the West of England Shared Transport and Active Travel (WESTACT) civic activism organisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In theory that partnership is an agreement between local authorities and the bus companies but bus companies are not actually bound by them in the long-term, according to Melville.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe benefit of franchising is that the local authorities then have the power to enforce it, but with the Enhanced Partnership the companies can do it for a while but ultimately can stop doing their side of the deal,\u201d such as maintaining routes or schedules, Melville says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local officials say the new law is an important move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With franchising, \u201cEverything from routes, fares, schedules and service standards would be in the control of democratically elected representatives, and not at the whim of private bus companies that prioritise profits,\u201d says Liberal Democrat Councillor Nicholas Coombes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n