Bus Subsidies 2025

The Review

On 25 March 2025, Council agreed to a full review of the subsidised local bus service contracts. The review comprised of on-bus passenger surveys; analysis of passenger boarding information supplied by the bus operator, morebus; discussions with morebus; and a ‘Have your say’ public consultation which ran from 9 July to 18 August 2025.

Residents were asked to give their opinions on the council's subsidised bus services with the option of completing paper questionnaires that were made available on the bus routes affected or by submitting responses online. The council’s Consultation Team engaged an external research company to undertake the data entry and analysis.

• There were 2,989 responses to the consultation, 765 (25.6%) of these were received online and 2,224 (74.4%) were on paper questionnaires.
• Most respondents (2,589) indicated that they use at least one of the Monday to Saturday routes. 919 respondents used at least one of the Sunday services and 881 used the evening routes. 140 respondents identified as users of at least one of the school routes.

The consultation report is available and a report was considered at Cabinet on Tuesday 4 February, where it was RECOMMENDED that: -

(a) Cabinet recommends to Council the phased withdrawal of the council bus subsidy budget commencing May 2026 resulting in the service changes set out in Appendix 4; and –

(b) Cabinet recommends to Council the use of Local Authority Bus Grant to fund the revised subsidised bus network as set out in Appendix 4.

The recommendation has been developed in partnership with morebus (main enhanced bus partnership operator). Whilst undertaking the review the council has engaged with the Department for Transport (DfT) Bus Reform Team throughout to ensure that the recommended revised subsidised network is eligible to be funded from the recently announced £2,621,127 Local Authority Bus Grant (LABG) 2026/27 revenue allocation.

Subsidised Bus Service Network Proposal

Using the consultation feedback alongside performance analysis and informed by dialogue with the DfT, a revised subsidised bus service network proposal has been developed through partnership working with the local bus operator, it is set out in Appendix 4 and includes the following:

Evening and weekend supported services

• The 10 evening and weekend supported services (Monday to Saturday - Route 4, 8/9, 14, 16, 25/26 and Sunday evenings - Route 4, 8, 16, 25 and X6) to become commercial (operated without subsidy) following increases in patronage. There would be changes to some of the routes and/or timetables though these would be expected to maintain a similar level of service to the current provision. This would secure the evening and Sunday services to the key suburbs across the conurbation .

Monday to Saturday daytime services

• 2 of the 8 Monday to Saturday daytime services (Route 20 and 33) would be adjusted and combined with other services to create new routes. The results of the consultation, together with analysis of Electronic Ticket Machine (ETM) boarding data, has been used to form these proposals. New peak hour services would be introduced, and cross-conurbation links (including to Bournemouth Hospital) would be provided. Some of the services could be enhanced.
• 6 of the 8 Monday to Saturday daytime services would remain in their current form (Route One, 7A/B/C, 10, 18, 32, and 36). These routes are considered the most socially necessary and have a low subsidy per passenger journey but are not currently fully commercial. The existing timetables are seen to be efficient and optimised.

School services

4 of the 6 school services (Route 40, 46, 81 and 425) are not considered sustainable in their current form because of a combination of the following: they require high or very high subsidy per passenger journey; there is a suitable alternative service and/or there are very low passenger numbers. Therefore, the following is recommended:

• a. Subsidised School Service Route 40 is recommended to be discontinued at the end of the 2025/26 academic year because the cost per passenger journey is high, there are very few passengers, and a suitable alternative commercial service exists.
• b. Subsidised School Service Route 425 is recommended to be discontinued at the end of 2026/27 academic year because the cost per passenger journey is high and there are suitable alternative commercial services. The rationale for retaining this for a year longer than Route 40 is that the alternative journey is more complex with a change of bus, hence, delaying the withdrawal affords parents more time to plan for the change. 207
• c. Subsidised School Service Routes 81 is recommended to be discontinued owing to the high cost per passenger albeit this shall be mitigated by being combined with the 46 service which shall reduce the level of subsidy required to cover the area representing better value for money.
• Routes 744 and 448 are recommended to be retained in their existing form as the existing timetables are considered efficient and optimised.

The council has introduced child period tickets for the first time this year using Bus Grant funding which would help students potentially transferring from dedicated school buses to network services. It has also invested millions in walking and cycling infrastructure making active travel (walking/wheeling) journeys much safer and convenient compared to when the services were originally conceived

Cabinet Report