Is your organisation ready to run a bus network, not just award bus contracts?
Franchising gives an Authority greater control of the network and brings day-to-day responsibilities that a contract alone cannot carry.
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In programmes preparing for franchising, the organisation is often left until late in the process. The legal and procurement work quite properly receives significant attention. Yet, once services start, the Authority must make decisions about the network, oversee contract performance and deal with issues that do not fit neatly inside a single Operator's contract.
Under the statutory franchising framework in England, an Authority identifies the local services to be provided under local service contracts and grants an Operator the right to run them on the agreed terms within the franchising scheme. Those terms can cover matters such as frequency, fares and service standards. That is a material change from commissioning an individual supported service. The Authority becomes responsible for making the network work as a coherent public service and needs a clear target operating model.
Start with the work, not the job titles
An organisation chart shows who a Contract Manager reports to. It does not show what happens when a road closure affects two Operators, a ticket is rejected on a connecting service or a passenger makes a complaint spanning more than one contract. Passengers see a poorly defined operating model at these moments.
The Authority needs clear ownership of the customer proposition: network identity, fares and ticketing rules, customer information, and the route for getting a complaint to the right person. Its team must be able to plan changes, interpret performance data, challenge an Operator where necessary, and authorise contractual payments or deductions. Ownership of patronage growth is often overlooked and needs to be assigned. The Operator remains responsible for running the service, including drivers, vehicles, daily control, and operational safety. The contract should set out the boundary, especially for disruption communications, data provision, lost property, and escalated complaints.
| Area | Authority responsibility | Operator responsibility |
|---|---|---|
| Network and customer offer | Decide routes, fares, standards and network-wide information | Deliver the contracted service and supply accurate operational information |
| Contract performance | Monitor evidence, apply the agreed process and decide any contractual action | Provide evidence, manage the causes of poor performance and respond to notices |
| Daily incidents | Set the escalation route and coordinate decisions affecting the wider network | Manage the immediate service response and keep the Authority informed |
An Authority does not need a large standalone unit. It may draw on established finance, procurement, communications, data protection, and legal teams. The franchise team needs to know when to involve them, who can decide, and how quickly that decision is recorded. A timetable change cannot wait for a monthly governance meeting. A customer service colleague should not have to search several contracts to explain a disrupted journey.
Build the capability before the first service
The Department for Transport's franchising guidance asks Authorities to consider staffing and financial arrangements, revenue risk, performance incentives, vehicle and depot arrangements, workforce matters, and contract procurement. These are operating model choices as well as assessment and procurement questions.
We have seen good teams underestimate the routine work that follows launch: checking performance files, resolving an incomplete data return, agreeing a diversion, answering an elected member's question, or deciding whether a service failure reaches the contractual threshold. Each task is manageable on its own. Collectively, they show whether the Authority can act consistently and whether Operators consider the contract to be administered fairly.
A readiness exercise should follow a live service issue from first report to closure. It should identify the data that the Authority would receive, the officer able to decide, the contract provision in use, and the passenger-facing message. Run it with the intended customer service, network, finance, and contract teams, rather than the project team alone. This will reveal gaps in delegations, systems access, and out-of-hours arrangements more reliably than an organisation chart.
LiteFranchise™ includes a sequenced Authority Action List and material on operating and organisation models. It offers a starting point for this work or an end-to-end model. Authorities should adapt it to their delegations, shared services, local network, and proposed contracts.
Useful questions
Answer these questions with named owners and examples, rather than general assurances.
- Who can make a cross-network decision at short notice and who communicates it to passengers and Operators?
- Can the Authority trace a poor-performance result from the Operator's data through to the contractual decision and payment outcome?
- Which tasks will sit with the franchise team, and which will depend on existing finance, legal, communications or customer service colleagues?
- Have the people who will run the service tested a realistic disruption or complaint scenario before the first contract starts?
- Where an Operator disputes a performance finding, is the evidence, escalation route and decision-maker clear?
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