Following the government’s publication of the National Bus Strategy Bus Back Better in March 2021, local transport authorities (LTAs) outside London were invited to submit Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIPs) to the Department for Transport (DfT), setting out how they plan to improve local bus services.

DfT allocated more than £1.085bn of funding over April 2023 to March 2025 to 34 LTAs (seven of which were Mayoral Combined Authorities).

Frontier Economics and SYSTRA Limited were commissioned by DfT to carry out an independent monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of the BSIP Phase 1 interventions. An interim report for this evaluation has been published today, and provides an early update on the M&E programme.

Whilst some BSIP Phase 1 interventions are already operational, the majority are still in the pre-implementation or early delivery phase, particularly those involving infrastructure. A full impact and value for money assessment is not possible at this stage. The focus of this report is to provide:

• A summary of the progress made to date by the BSIP-funded LTAs on the delivery of their proposed interventions.
• An update on the four key monitoring metrics (bus customer satisfaction, journey time, patronage, and punctuality) across LTAs in receipt of BSIP Phase 1 funding.
• Initial findings from the process evaluation, including findings from primary research relating to the design and delivery of BSIP Phase 1 interventions.
• Emerging insights on the early signs of initial impacts in five LTAs, referred to as spotlight areas: Derbyshire, Hertfordshire, Nottingham, Somerset, and West Berkshire. These were selected on the basis that they have already started to implement some of their BSIP Phase 1 interventions.

Click here to read the Interim Report for DfT of the Evaluation of the Bus Service Improvement Plan Phase 1 Interventions.