Fidler hails bus centre for creating network of professionals ‘that did not exist’

The Bus Centre of Excellence (BCoE) is creating “a network of professionals that did not exist”, Stephen Fidler, Director, Buses & Inclusion at DfT, has stated at a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearing.

The DfT has invested about £1m in setting up the centre, which now has more than 1,400 members, said Fidler.

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BCoE is supporting Quality Bus on 23-24 September with funded tickets for the public sector: apply here and hear Stephen Fidler speak

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It has set up specialist groups focusing on franchising as well as electrification and zero-emission bus skills in authorities, he told the committee. “There is quite a lot of work being done around personal safety, including a fantastic event around women’s safety, and tackling personal safety on transport.”

Setting up BCoE was recommended in the National Bus Strategy (2021) to enable the delivery of a long-term programme of activities and support to the bus sector, and was set up in 2023.

Funded by the DfT and delivered by the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT), the centre works with sector stakeholders to deliver an asset that is run by the industry for the industry.

Fidler said the DfT is working with the centre’s advisory board to ensure that the “learnings that we are getting about the key skills areas are chiming with what they are hearing from their members from the sector, and we will agree the forward work programme in the light of that”.

He referred to the centre’s session with Jersey’s bus franchising team. “We have a franchising network for authorities that are interested, and we are taking through some of those other models, which are about potentially growing out in a more gradual way from your existing tender networks,” said Fidler. “There is no big-bang, overnight move to franchising; as you need to let more contracts and, potentially, things get less commercial, you can take them into the local authority family.”

Fidler highlighted that the Bus Centre of Excellence-supported Quality Rural Bus Conference would be exploring how bus services can “particularly benefit rural areas”.

BCoE is providing support to local authorities to solve challenges that more rural authorities face in supplying bus services. “We’re providing support through the Bus Centre of Excellence on how to actually crack some of those local challenges,” he said.

Fidler told the PAC that demand-responsive transport could in some cases be part of the solution where authorities might choose to build a franchise that “connects your demand-responsive and fixed-route services to get the best possible connectivity for your community from the amount of money”.

Since its formation, the BCoE has set out to share best practices among those involved in the delivery of bus services and infrastructure. The centre says its mission is to share knowledge and provide know-how for a new generation of bus professionals and promote buses’ role in a net zero transport system. It is also working to bring together local transport authorities (LTAs), operators and suppliers, to develop and promote best practice and build the necessary skills to deliver better bus services across England.