Updates and opinion on the world of public transport - from CitySwift

Launching a franchised bus network isn’t the end of the journey, it’s the start of a continuous improvement cycle. Once contracts are live, performance data becomes your most powerful tool for keeping services on track, holding operators accountable, and making evidence-based decisions.

By embedding performance data into your tendering process, you’ll ensure operators submit realistic bids, that you can evaluate in-depth, to set your franchised network up for long-term success.

Franchising offers transport authorities more control over service quality. But that control is only meaningful if decisions are grounded in data. Long before a single contract is awarded, authorities need a clear picture of how their existing network is performing.

Franchising offers local transport authorities the opportunity to be more involved in the delivery of reliable, efficient, and passenger-focused services. But to make it work, it’s essential to start with a clear understanding of what’s happening in your current network.

Through franchising, UK authorities are aiming to improve bus services to benefit operators, drivers and passengers. But what if the network you’re franchising has performance issues? If these aren’t resolved ahead of franchising, you run the risk of filtering them into the new network.

To make data-led decision-making business as usual in your franchising journey, it’s not enough to have access to network performance data. You need consistent, repeatable processes around the data to ensure that insights are used to improve network performance.