An announcement of almost £1 billion in funding has been hailed by the government as the start of a ‘bus revolution’ across England, promising ‘London-style’ services.

The Department for Transport hopes the cash injection will keep fares down and protect local routes. Reporter Rhys Griffiths investigates what it could all mean for passengers in Kent and Medway…

Although often in the shadow of the railways, especially big-ticket projects like HS2 and the Elizabeth line, buses remain the workhorse of the public transport – carrying significantly more passengers each year than travel by train.

But despite being a lifeline for so many when it comes to getting to work, accessing education and heading to the shops or for a night out, the network has been cut back. Meanwhile, on many routes that have survived, there have been reductions in frequency.

Figures released this week show that bus mileage in England remains 11% below pre-pandemic levels, putting pressure on the bottom line for commercial operators who run the majority of routes and on cash-strapped local authorities charged with supporting the network in their area.

The Labour government hopes to remedy the woes facing the nation’s buses with a huge injection of cash and new powers for local political leaders to shape services to meet the needs of their communities.

Although it is unlikely change will happen overnight, those who rely on the buses to get about will be hoping it brings tangible benefits sooner rather than later.

What has the government actually announced?

The Department for Transport (DfT) has earmarked £955 million to support bus services across England until 2026, money it says will “deliver a bus revolution”.

Some £712 million will be shared among local authorities – including Kent County Council (KCC) and Medway Council – and bus operators will receive £243 million. KCC is set to receive £23.1 million, while Medway will get £4 million.

Announcing the fresh funding, the then-transport secretary Louise Haigh (who resigned on Friday) said: “Buses are the lifeblood of communities, but the system is broken. Too often, passengers are left waiting hours for buses that don’t turn up – and some have been cut off altogether.

“That’s why we’re reforming funding to deliver better buses across the country and end the postcode lottery of bus services. By delivering better buses, we’ll ensure people have proper access to jobs and opportunities – powering economic growth in every corner of the country.”

The government is also putting forward new legislation to reform the way services are delivered.

Deregulation initiated by the Thatcher government in the 1980s saw control of buses taken away from local authorities, leaving the market outside London in the hands of private operators.

That looks set to be reversed, with the DfT saying the forthcoming Buses Bill will “give local leaders across England greater control to deliver bus services in a way that suits the needs of their communities”.

What does the promise of ‘London-style bus services’ really mean?

Let’s start with what it does not mean. No, your buses aren’t going to all be painted red. And no, don’t expect to suddenly see them appearing with the frequency experienced in the capital.

It is all a question of how they are controlled. Deregulation means that the provision of services in the vast majority of the country – including here in Kent and Medway – is the responsibility of private bus operators, such as Stagecoach in the east of the county and Arriva in much of the north and west.

This has meant that decisions about where, when and how often buses run have been largely based on whether they are economically viable.

Councils have been able to use cash from central government to help subsidise some loss-making routes, particularly those serving schools and some rural areas, but they have no direct control over the network itself.

Things are very different in the capital. Transport for London (TfL) - through subsidiary company London Bus Services Ltd - plans routes, sets service levels and monitors service quality. The buses themselves are operated by companies that compete for contracts to provide specific services, in a model known as franchising.

It is this approach that the government is now seeking to expand to areas outside the capital, in the hope that by giving local authorities greater control they will, in the words of the DfT, be “empowered to deliver modern and integrated bus networks that put passengers at the heart of local decision making”.

Although the ability to adopt the franchising model is now set to be rolled out across England, since 2017 mayoral combined authorities have already had the power to bring buses under local control in this way.

The first area to do so was Greater Manchester, and in the first six months of franchising passenger numbers on the newly-launched Bee Network grew by 5%, punctuality improved and passenger revenue was higher than expected.

But what might be right for a large urban area such as Greater Manchester may not be right for counties like Kent, large parts of which are rural.

So will we see our bus services brought under council control?

At this stage it is difficult to predict whether franchising will be embraced here in Kent. The new legislation is yet to be published and decisions on changes to a decades-old model of bus provision will need to be carefully considered.

Phil Lightowler, KCC’s head of public transport, has told KentOnline that the government’s new approach could be a “game changer” for buses.

“There might be parts of Kent where franchising would work and we would want to take control to deliver things,” he said, “so it might be that we go down the franchising route in the future.

“The devil's in the detail of the bill, but remember, when you've got control you've got all the blame and if it goes wrong one year and you've got a loss, you've got to find it somewhere else, so it would be a political debate for Kent to do it.

“But those powers are coming. The word from the government now is longer-term funding and franchising for giving powers to councils to control buses in a different way.

“The landscape is changing. Longer-term funding would make a massive difference because then we're making decisions on a three- to four-year timeline, which makes it much easier than one year.”

For councils, switching to a franchising model would represent a significant commitment – and a significant risk. A report put before KCC’s environment and transport cabinet committee on November 14 noted that, even with funding in place and the process streamlined, the implementation of a franchise system could take as long as five years to fully deliver.

The report reminds members that “moving to a bus franchise does require careful consideration” because: “The expectation will be in the wider public domain that such a franchise will deliver an improved network, compared to current and that significant investment will flow into it.

“Therefore before embarking on such a process, the benefits have to be clear and the long-term funding to support such a network needs to be in place.”

So do not expect to see any major changes to how the buses are managed any time soon.

If franchising may have to wait, what is being done to improve services now?

Both KCC and Medway Council have published documents called Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIP), which set out how they are working to make buses a more attractive proposition for passengers. These documents have been used to support previous bids for government funding to support buses in the county.

Key areas include improving reliability and punctuality on priority routes by making changes to the road network, and making the passenger experience better by delivering more real-time information and upgrading facilities on board and at key transport hubs.

Highways projects identified in the KCC plan which are already underway include Rennie Drive in Dartford, Pencester Road in Dover, and the so-called ‘Thanet Superbus’ scheme. All are designed to deliver bus priority and therefore improve the reliability of services on those routes.

In Medway, red routes – which prevent other vehicles from stopping, parking, and loading – are also being introduced on a number of high-frequency bus corridors.

Cllr David Field, a Labour member of Medway Council who also works in the public transport sector, has welcomed the announcement of new funding for local authorities.

“This is a significant increase in funding for our services,” he said.

“This will help to support additional services in evenings and weekends, making sure that we can invest in our buses to make sure they're more environmentally friendly, to introduce new audio and visual announcements, and to actually take measures to hopefully improve the journey times of our buses that quite often get delayed in traffic.

“We've got an old road network. Let's be honest, places like Rochester Bridge can't really be widened and many of our historic roads can only be single carriageway.

“So we need to think about how best we use that limited road space and one really good way is to encourage more people to get into buses, because you can fit 30 or 40 people into a bus taking up the space of two cars, essentially. Investment in buses is desperately needed.”

To make journeys easier for passengers, there are also plans to install live information screens at key transport hubs, to launch an online portal with live timetable updates, and to install QR codes at bus stops so that people can easily access the latest information about their services.

Mr Lightowler said: “People always say, ‘I could never find out about my service’ or, ‘We got to the bus stop but we didn't know if the bus was going to be on time’. It's just about giving people the confidence to travel.”

What do passenger groups have to say about the government’s plans?

Lydia Horbury, director for England at passenger lobby group Bus Users UK, has welcomed the news – but says it is vital that the ambitious proposals for shaking up bus services translates to measurable improvement for passengers.

“The announcement of nearly £1bn in bus funding marks a pivotal moment for public transport in England,” she said.

“By prioritising allocation based on need rather than competition, this plan offers the potential to redress historical imbalances, particularly in areas that have long suffered from limited or unreliable services.

“For rural communities and small towns, this funding could be transformative.

“For urban areas, maintaining high service levels is critical, especially as they work to integrate greener, more efficient multi-modal transit options.”

So what is happening with the £2 bus fare cap?

Since January 2023, bus passengers have enjoyed cheaper journeys thanks to the introduction of the £2 fare cap introduced by the previous Conservative government.

But travel costs are set to rise following the announcement that the cap will increase by 50% to £3 for a single journey - set to come into effect on January 1.

Labour points out that the fare cap was set to expire at the end of the year anyway, arguing that it has in effect been extended, even if it is now at a higher level.

Cllr Field said: “The £2 bus fare cap was introduced by the previous government before the last general election and they only had funding until December this year. So there wasn't funding next year, it wasn't in the budget.

“So some people were talking about getting rid of the cap overall, and I don't think that would be fair.”