Better Buses South Yorkshire
March 2025 South Yorkshire agrees to franchise bus services.
BBSY celebrated the decision outside the Mayoral offices.
June 2025 launch of open letter calling for public voice in franchising
Read and sign the open letter here
West Midlands success
May 2025 decision to franchise bus services. Read about it here
Better Buses East Midlands
January 2025 launch of campaign to urge Mayor to take buses back into public control
South Yorkshire
January 2025 consultation on public control ended. Over 7,600 people responded with over 80% in favour. Copies of campaigning materials that we used can be found on the Resources page.
Northern Region Pensioners Convention Jan 2025 produced “A Vision for a Transport System that Works for Older People“. Read it here
Devon update on activities November 2024 has interesting focus on campaigning read report here
Kent Save Our Buses
Activities October and November
November 18 On ITV protesting at savage bus cuts.
October 31 in Pencester pushing for a publicly run bus service meeting reporter for Mercury paper
October 21 petitioning to save bus routes
October 9 Out protesting at chaos to bus routes.
Get Glasgow moving campaign November 2024
Sign the petition here.
South Yorkshire October 2024 celebration of decision to begin statutory public consultation on franchising.
Better Buses for South Yorkshire November 2024 50 people at workshop exploring best responses to the public consultation.
Fare Free London campaign event September 2024 “Winning Free Public Transport”
You can read the report here
Derbyshire Better Buses on Chesterfield May Day demonstration
Derbyshire Better Buses campaign stall in Bakewell on Saturday, April 6, to call for improvements to bus services.
Protesters demanded more regular and reliable buses across the county – especially in the rural areas.
They also called for integrated public transport timetables (bus and rail) to be produced in hard copy and web versions for bus users in Derbyshire.
Derbyshire campaigners have also carried out a survey of locals and visitors in the Peak District on their attitudes to bus services. This is the link to their report: https://transitionchesterfield.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Better-Buses-Derbyshire-survey-Bakewell-240407-final-final.pdf
West Mids delivering petition for franchising
Read press release and petition contents here
Report from Cumbria on bus funding consultation April 2024
South Yorkshire – celebrating start of public ownership of Supertram March 2024
Devon update on activities March 2024 read report here
Leeds, West Yorkshire – Thursday 14th March celebrating as WY Mayoral Authority votes to commence franchising.
South Yorkshire – Tuesday 12th March South Yorkshire Mayor ticking off journey so far on road map to franchising.
Better Buses for Chesterfield meeting 7th March report here
Strathclyde (Glasgow) – Friday 23rd February handing in petition with nearly 10,000 signatures calling for franchising process to begin.
Update – Strathclyde decision report here
West Yorkshire – The results of the public consultation on franchising will be announced on March 14th. An event to celebrate this is being organised in Leeds. Details here.
West Midlands – campaign for franchised bus services
Lobby outside February 2024 Combined Authority meeting
Click here for information and petition
Nottinghamshire – campaign to stop cuts in free tram travel
Concessionary pass holders in Nottinghamshire have won the right to maintain free travel on Nottingham trams.
Congratulations to the successful campaign which was supported by Notts TUC, GMB, UNISON and Unite the Union.
South Yorkshire
Campaign by local people on Broadway in Barnsley as their bus routes are slashed completely by Stagecoach.
January 2024 – 85 residents packed into local church for public meeting to plan actions to get buses reinstated. South Yorkshire Mayor came and supported their demands. Two big rallies were also held at Barnsley Interchange.
Stagecoach refused to engage but the South Yorkshire Mayor agreed to use his limited finances to provide a very limited tendered service. Residents continue to campaign for Stagecoach to restore full service.
February 2024 – Residents gathered for a ceremonial posting of their petition filmed by Channel 4.
A video of the news broadcast can be seen at https://x.com/channel4news/status/1760027471951598013?s=12&t=EQncByOijbn9pmT-O0wqFg
Better Buses protest at South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority January 2024 meeting the Mayor – when will franchising process start?
West Yorkshire activities for franchising
West Yorkshire had a series of activities, including a bus tour to promote the handing in of their franchising petition.
12,000 people signed the petition to bring buses into public control across West Yorkshire. It was presented to the WYMCA at the end of the consultation period.
Tell SPT to Take our Buses back into Public Control
Click link below for more information:
Take Strathclyde’s Buses back into Public Control | Megaphone UK
Our biggest Better Buses rally yet!
Images and activities from the October 2023 week of action
Add your event! Email details to betterbusesnational@gmail.com
betterbusescampaign.uk 