Recommendation 17

HM Government Acknowledged

The Government has noted this recommendation. Multiple monitoring and evaluation projects are currently being delivered for activities which sit under the National Bus Strategy. This includes bespoke evaluation projects for initiatives funded through Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIPs), the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) scheme, the Rural Mobility Fund (RMF). Additionally, as part of the Bus Transformation evaluation, evidence synthesis, analysis and reporting will be conducted for all monitoring and evaluation activities that sit under the National Bus Strategy. The National Bus Strategy set out our long-term vision for buses: firstly, to get overall patronage back to its pre-Covid-19 level, and then to exceed it, by making the bus a practical and attractive alternative to the car for more people. The NBS is in the early phases of delivery, with BSIP funding allocated until March 2025 and the vast majority of LTAs having recently completed the statutory process to introduce an Enhanced Partnership. The statutory process for franchising takes longer, and no LTA has yet completed this process. The evaluation of the NBS will be completed, at the earliest by March 2025. We are concentrating on ensuring the NBS is delivered and embedded throughout the country. It would be premature to set a date for future revisions of the Strategy at the present time. Since March 2020, we have provided over £2 billion in support to the bus sector to protect vital bus services. Costs for bus operators have significantly risen and travel patterns are continuing to adapt in response to challenging economic circumstances, which is why we have already provided up to £80 million to extend service support for the bus sector in addition to extending the £2 Bus Fare Cap until 30 June 2023. We recognise, however, that the bus sector continues to face a number of ongoing challenges as operators and Local Transport Authorities (LTAs) work to adjust their networks to reflect new travel patterns. This is why we have announced a long-term approach to support and improve bus services with an additional £300m to support services from July 2023 until April 2025. It will be important to understand the continued impact of our new funding in supporting the travelling public, enabling connectivity and the ambitions set out in the National Bus Strategy and our plans to grow the economy, creating better-paid jobs and opportunity right across the country. We will work to do this, in collaboration with local authorities and the bus sector. We have also announced that we will be extending the £2 fare cap scheme for a further four months from 1 July until 31 October 2023, to help save people money during the ongoing cost of living crisis and make bus travel cheaper for passengers. This will be followed by a longer-term fare cap of £2.50 from 1 November 2023 to 30 November 2024, at a total cost to the Department of up to £200m. We also expect to publish the findings from the £2 Fare Cap monitoring and evaluation. The Bus Transformation evaluation, including findings from the evaluation of BSIPs and the wider National Bus Strategy, are expected to be published when the project finishes in 2025. We will share learnings and interim findings beforehand where possible.