Prospects in Britain in the light of the Bus Services Act 2017

The aim of this paper is not to document a specific research project, but to provide an international audience with an overview of the Bus Services Act 2017 in Britain in the light of the extensive experience of deregulation and privatisation within the British bus and coach industry since the early 1980s. It provides a range of powers, mostly permissive rather than mandatory. The general emphasis of the Act displays marked shift from the previous focus on competition as a major policy aim, to one in which partnerships between operators and local transport authorities are encouraged. Procedures for franchising are simplified, in contrast to those under the 2000 and 2008 Acts, which did not result in any franchising scheme outside London being introduced. The changes relate to a number of themes examined in previous Thredbo conferences, including aspects of competition law, service tendering, data disclosure and network planning. This paper begins by examining the historical background to the Act, then discusses its main provisions. Data requirements for research to monitor the possible effects of its implementation are outlined. It is concluded that the Act has the potential to encourage greater bus use, but the extent of this is highly uncertain. All views expressed are those of the author personally, and do not represent those of the British government or any other organisation

Bus services for rural communities A audit of villages in Englnad

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:99/30213 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Quality partnerships in the bus industry A survey and review

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:f99/2185 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Improving bus service reliability

The objective of this research (undertaken in 2010–12) was to provide urban bus operators and public transport contracting authorities in New Zealand with practical guidance on methods for diagnosis of urban bus service (un)reliability, the causes of unreliability, how unreliability is best measured and monitored, and experience and best practice on measures and methods to improve reliability and punctuality. The research outputs were intended to assist urban bus operators and planning/contracting/funding authorities in New Zealand to gain a better understanding of bus reliability and punctuality issues and how best to address them. The report addressed the causes of unreliability, reliability standards and measurement, data collection and analysis methods, and the approaches available to tackle reliability problems through planning and timetabling measures (when problems can be anticipated in advance) and/or through operational measures (for problems arising on a day-to-day basis). Recommendations were made on: the continuing refinement and adoption of outputs from automated (GPS-based) data sources as the primary means of monitoring reliability performance, replacing operator self-reporting methods; on using these data sources to optimise running times; and on the adoption of some form of ‘quality partnership’ arrangement between regional authorities and their operators to jointly pursue continuous improvements in reliability performance

Rapid transit monitor 1997

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:7254.458(1997) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo