Recommendation 5

The Department could do much more to support local transport authorities with the skills they need and to help them apply relevant good practice. Local transport authorities’ capacity and capability to deliver bus service improvements is not good enough. In 2023, 46% of local authorities rated their capacity as poor. Recognising these constraints, the Department has provided funding for each local transport authority to hire at least one officer for buses. We think that this is clearly insufficient given the increasing responsibilities of local transport authorities for buses. The Department established the Bus Centre of Excellence in 2023, to support the capability needs of local transport authorities, but its work is not sufficiently targeted to the outcomes the Department wants to achieve and the help that is needed. There can be big differences in bus service performance between neighbouring local transport authorities. The Department could do much more to identify success factors and ensure good practice is spread to areas that have similar characteristics. recommendation a. The Department should explain how it will make sure its support is targeted to the skills local transport authorities most need. 5 b. The Department should identify and share, through the Bus Centre of Excellence, best practice that is tailored for areas with similar characteristics.