Bus Reform: Will the latest bus legislation enable better public transport and transport planning outcomes?

The Bus Services Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 27 October 2025. It reforms the ways that local transport authorities can shape their local bus networks to achieve their transport and socio-economic objectives – including setting up potential franchising schemes to replace parts of bus operators’ commercial bus networks. For transport planners, this is an opportunity to reinforce the role of an area’s bus network in supporting wider transport, spatial, socio-economic and environmental objectives and policies.

This webinar draws together speakers with direct experience in – and with different perspectives on – improving bus services and service networks, and what that can achieve.

People coming to the webinar will gain insights into these new opportunities and how they can be used to deliver better bus planning and wider transport planning outcomes.

Agenda:

• Welcome

  Tiff Lynch, chair of TPS Policy Panel’s Bus, Rail and Logistics group

• The role of BCoE

  Stelios Rodoulis, Bus Centre of Excellence

• How the Bus Services Act 2025 unlocks better bus network planning

  Gwyn Ephraim, Arup

• The Franchising perspective

  Anna Malone, Liverpool City Region combined authority

• The Enhanced Partnership Plus perspective

  Katharine Broomfield, Oxfordshire County Council

• An operator’s perspective

  Nick Small, Oxford Bus Group/Go South Coast (Go Ahead Group)

• Questions to the speakers

  Facilitator: Stelios Rodoulis, BCoE

• Summing up and close

  Tiff Lynch, chair of TPS Policy Panel’s Bus, Rail and Logistics group