Bus passengers will have a new champion fighting their corner thanks to the Local Transport Act, Transport Minister Paul Clark confirmed today. Royal Assent for the Bill paves the way for Passenger Focus to represent bus users in England, who make over 4 billion journeys a year.

From April the watchdog, which currently represents rail users, will begin to take on its new role as "bus passenger champion". One of its first tasks will be to conduct a review into how bus passengers' complaints are handled.

The Act has also been welcomed by Anthony Smith, Passenger Focus chief executive:

"Passenger Focus is delighted to be representing bus and coach passengers in England. Combining independent passenger research and focussed advocacy on behalf of passengers will start to drive improvements in bus and coach services. Passenger Focus's experience at working on behalf of rail passengers will help England's bus and coach passengers get the best deal." 

The Act will equip local authorities with a comprehensive toolkit aimed at giving them greater scope for working together in partnership with operators to enhance the standard of services in their areas. The Act will also make it a more realistic option for local authorities to introduce quality contracts schemes. These are similar to the system of bus franchising which exists in London and will help ensure networks are designed with the needs of passengers at the forefront. 

The Act will also help bring all modes of transport together, by strengthening the role of the six existing Passenger Transport Authorities - to be renamed Integrated Transport Authorities (ITAs) - and by enabling new ITAs to be established. These will help major urban areas outside London to improve coordination of the road network and public transport. They will take on full responsibility for local transport planning across their areas. The Act also creates the opportunity for local areas to review their existing arrangements, and to propose reforms (including enhanced powers and boundary changes). The Act also paves the way for the creation of new ITAs in areas where they do not already exist. 

The Act provides a range of options for local authorities to have greater influence over the provision of bus services in their areas. The 'toolkit' will include voluntary partnership agreements, statutory quality partnership schemes, and quality contracts (bus franchising) schemes. Quality contracts schemes are essentially the same as the London model of bus franchising, whereby the bus network is planned by the local authority and the services are operated by private operators under contract to that authority.