Why TfL’s Public Bus Company Plans Matter for the National Bus Safety and Transparency Debate

This week Transport for London confirmed it is developing proposals for a publicly owned bus company in the capital.

On the surface, this might sound like a London-specific policy story. In reality, it has major implications for the national conversation about bus governance, franchising and public accountability.

And it lands at a particularly interesting moment.

Because at the same time, my ongoing Freedom of Information campaign into bus safety governance across England is starting to uncover a growing gap in transparency between regions.

These two developments are more connected than they might first appear.

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London’s proposal: a publicly owned bus operator

TfL has confirmed it will explore creating a publicly owned bus company that could operate routes when contracts expire.

The stated goals include: • Improving efficiency and innovation
• Creating a benchmark for private operators
• Strengthening accountability
• Reinvesting profits back into public transport

This would be the first publicly owned London bus operator in decades and represents a significant shift in policy thinking.

But the most important word in TfL’s rationale may be this: accountability.

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Why accountability keeps coming up

TfL has explicitly said a publicly owned operator could provide a benchmark for performance and help ensure the best outcomes for passengers and taxpayers.

In other words, governance and transparency sit at the heart of the proposal.

And this is exactly the issue currently emerging through Freedom of Information responses from across England.

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What the FOI campaign is starting to reveal

Over the past few months I have been submitting FOI requests to Combined Authorities and Local Transport Authorities asking about:

• Bus safety oversight
• Governance structures
• Safety data and reporting
• Transparency and publication

The responses have been strikingly inconsistent.

In some areas, authorities have stated they hold: • No bus safety governance documents
• No safety data
• No committee discussions about bus safety

In Greater Manchester, however, internal documents show governance structures that: • Monitor transport network performance
• Hold operators to account
• Weigh public safety transparency against commercial sensitivity

We are starting to see a national contrast in how bus safety oversight is structured and how visible it is to the public.

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Why a public operator changes the conversation

A publicly owned bus company would not just be an operator.

It would also be: • A benchmark for costs and performance
• A source of operational data
• A transparency reference point
• A governance anchor within a franchised system

In short, it changes the information landscape.

And that matters because transparency is much harder to achieve when all operational data sits with private contractors.

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A national conversation is emerging

Bus franchising is expanding across England.

Combined Authorities are taking on greater responsibility for local transport systems.

And now London is considering bringing some bus operations back into public ownership.

At the same time, questions about safety governance and transparency are becoming harder to ignore.

The next phase of the bus policy debate may not just be about who runs services.

It may increasingly be about who holds the information, who oversees safety, and how visible that oversight is to the public.

This conversation is only just beginning.