Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 27
50th Report - Local bus services in England
Published 29 Oct 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Local bus services in England All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Technology could vastly improve bus passengers’ experience on England’s buses. For example, providing live updates on when a bus will next be stopping would reduce uncertainty and help passengers plan their journeys.65 We asked the Department what it is doing to 58 Qq 9-10, 12, 73 59 Transformative Transport Service Design Initiative (LBS0010) 60 Later Life Ambitions (LBS0022) 61 Qq 71-73, 75 62 Qq 70, 72, 75 63 Q 76 64 Q 70; Bus Services (No. 2) Bill [HL] 65 Better Buses East Midlands (LBS0020) 16 facilitate the roll-out of real-time information for all bus passengers. The Department told us its bus open data system should already provide real-time information for every bus in the country, that it is working on compliance which is currently at 85%, and that it has work to do to ensure this is used by app providers.66 However, the Transport Select Committee reported that only 16% of respondents to a recent survey had live updates on bus arrivals displayed at their nearest stop.67 The Department said it is investing in low-cost innovative solutions, such as using QR codes at bus stops to provide links to real-time information quickly through mobile phones. These have been used in Portsmouth and Norfolk rather than installing screens at each stop.68
From: Public Accounts Committee, 50th Report - Local bus services in England (HC 892), 29 October 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fiftieth Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026 (deadline 29 December 2025).
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fiftieth report from Session 2024-26
Published 19 January 2026.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government states that it "agrees" with each of the Committee's recommendations, while saying it does not think it would be appropriate to set quantitative targets for national outcomes.
- On the vision for buses, the department intends to publish a summary of its vision and intended outcomes "in the next few months", but does not think quantitative national targets would be appropriate because they "would prejudge local choices and trade-offs".
- On funding, the Local Authority Bus Grant began consolidating funding in 2025-26; the Bus Services Fund is not ring-fenced, but funding letters will set an expectation that it is spent on eligible bus schemes, otherwise it "could be clawed back or reduced in future".
- On performance, the department gives a target implementation date of December 2026 for its outcomes framework and says it has been testing a basket of indicators with authorities through a 'Bus Indicator Pilot'.
- On concessionary travel, the department "will write to the Committee" within six months on barriers facing elderly and disabled passengers, with details of its plans to address them.