Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to regulate and improve the provision of bus services across the North West.

The bus market outside London is deregulated and decisions regarding service provision is primarily a commercial matter for bus operators. Decisions on subsidised bus services are a matter for individual English local authorities, in the light of their other spending priorities. The Department provides around £43m of Bus Subsidy Operators Grant (BSOG) directly to English local authorities for local bus services.

The Bus Services Act 2017 provides the tools local authorities need to improve local bus services and increase passenger numbers.