Better Transport

Begin your campaigning by figuring out your target.

With a commercial service, you'll target the bus company first (briefly) and then focus on the transport authority. With a subsidised service, you'll focus on the transport authority If you want a new service or improvements to frequencies/timetables/routes on your service, you'll focus on the transport authority

Find out whether the service is commercial

Find out whether your bus service is run on a commercial basis by a bus company, or whether it is subsidised by your local authority. The authority will normally have a public transport officer responsible for bus services. Contact your transport authority and ask them if they do. If they don’t, ask which officer is responsible for bus services or public transport. Ask them to tell you whether the bus is paid for by them or by a bus company.

If your bus is run commercially, you might want to target the bus company first.

Contact the bus company

Bus companies are unlikely to spend more to improve your service unless they think this would make more money for them. They are private companies who are running a business, not political decision-makers. You can find out whether the bus would make money for a bus company by asking the local bus company. They have no obligation to respond, but they probably will.

It’s worth talking to the bus company so you understand their point of view. Tell them what kind of bus service you need and see what they say. If you think lots of people use or would use the bus you want, explain this to them. Ask them what kind of evidence they would need to encourage them to provide this bus service.

One bus company has a policy of 'use it or lose it' in one of the areas where they provide services. If a bus service is unprofitable, and the company plans to cancel it, they give local communities a grace period where local people make an effort to use the bus more. If the bus becomes profitable again, they don’t cancel it.

Bus companies may be open to community groups asking for this. If a service is going to be cancelled, ask the company whether you can have a 'use it or lose it' period of a few weeks, to prove that the bus will be better used in future.

Bus companies respond better to community groups than individuals, and they prefer long-term engagement over time rather than single-issue campaigning. Suggestions for better services are often welcome, but petitions are not – it’s better to direct petitions to the transport authority. Above all, bus companies need and want people to use their buses. If people don’t use the bus, it won’t make a profit, and the bus company will stop running it.

What one bus company told us about campaigning

Speak with your transport authority

If you don’t get anywhere by contacting your bus company, don’t waste time! In most cases, if you want to get a better bus service, you need to target your transport authority.

Your transport authority's responsibilities

Go to your transport authority’s website and:

• Find out when their meetings are. Most authorities' sites have a 'democracy' or 'council' section where they explain how the authority is run. Look up meeting dates. Meetings of the cabinet, full council meetings, meetings related to budget decisions and transport meetings will be particularly relevant.
• Find out which councillors have special responsibility for transport.
• Find out which officers are responsible for public transport and bus services.

If it's difficult to find the relevant information, phone the local authority and ask for help. Don’t take no for an answer!

If you want a new bus to be provided, ask the transport authority what its current plans are for buses in your area. Look at it local transport plan and bus strategy. Talk to them about the bus service you need and see what they say.

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Good idea: Stephen Law ran a successful campaign to get a bus service in Warwickshire reinstated. He has this advice: "Involve as many people as possible - local people, councils, the bus company, everyone. Involve your MP and ask him or her to write to the council".
Read Stephen's campaigning tips

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