Bus Services Bill returns to the Lords

The Bus Services Bill returned to the House of Lords on Tuesday 25 April for consideration of Commons amendments in 'ping pong'.

Members of the Lords considered Commons amendments on proposed franchising schemes, auditing of franchising authorities and powers of local authorities to form companies for local services.

Both Houses have agreed on the text of the bill, which now waits for Royal Assent when it will become an Act of Parliament (law).

Royal Assent is scheduled for Thursday 27 April.

Following agreement by both Houses on the text of the bill it received Royal Assent on 27 April 2017. Royal Assent is the monarch's agreement to make the bill into an Act of Parliament (law).

Lords third reading: Wednesday 23 November

Members of the Lords discussed subjects including investigations by the Competition and Markets Authority into franchising schemes.

Lords report stage day two: Wednesday 24 October

Members discussed amendments relating to employees' local service contracts, disability awareness training and concessionary fares on rural bus routes, and there were two votes.

Members of the Lords discussed whether or not local authorities should be able to form new companies to run bus services. There was a vote seeking to remove a clause that would have prevented this. Members voted 192 in favour and 180 against, so the change was made.

The second vote was on a change that would have required the secretary of state for transport to publish the objectives for bus services for the next 10 years. 72 members voted for this, with 174 against, so the change was not made.

Lords report stage day one: Wednesday 12 October

Members discussed proposed changes on a range of issues and there were five votes.

The first vote was on an amendment to give local transport authorities the ability to enforce traffic offences. Members voted 216 in favour and 175 against this amendment, so the change was made.

Peers then discussed emissions standards for new local buses, specifically making it mandatory for them to meet standards set out by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles. 219 members voted in favour and 178 voted against, so this amendment was passed.

Members then looked at a proposal to make new transport authorities introduce concessions schemes for people aged 16-19. This went to a vote, with 80 votes for and 174 against. The change was not made.

The fourth vote concerned appropriate consultations on creating a new local transport authority. The amendment proposed adding employee representatives to a list of people who must be consulted before any new authority is created. Members voted 189 in favour and 164 against, so this change was made.

The final vote looked at the kinds of local authorities that could opt to set up new bus franchises. The bill originally gave this power only to mayoral combined authorities; the amendment sought to extend this to other kinds of local authorities such as county councils and district councils. The vote on this amendment was 167 for and 150 against. This amendment was also passed.

Lords committee stage day three: Wednesday 20 July

Members discussed a range of subjects, including provision for disabled passengers, the role of the traffic commissioner and community bus routes.

Lords committee stage day two: Monday 4 July

Members discussed a range of subjects, including franchising, partnership schemes and a national organisation for bus passengers.

Lords committee stage day one: Wednesday 29 June

Members discussed a range of subjects, including vehicle carbon emissions, local authority governance and free travel for homeless families and students.

Lords second reading: Wednesday 8 June

Bus Services Bill summary

The bill will define laws around bus services.

Further information