Grant payments to Bus Users UK: FOI release

Information requested

'Any grant to UK campaigning group BUS USERS UK? They have a Scottish branch and if any grants have been made to that group in the past five financial years starting 2019/20 could tell me what the amounts are for the relevant years and any conditions that are attached to acceptance of such grants?'.

Response

The answer to your question is provided in the table below which shows grant payments to BUS USERS UK for operations undertaken in Scotland.

2019/20	£256,524
2020/21	£238,752
2021/22	£241,262
2022/23	£232,357
2023/24	£244,554

As outlined in the conditions of their grant award, the main objectives/expected outcomes of the Grant are:

• Provision of compliance monitoring of local registered bus services and submission of data results to Transport Scotland;
• Delivery of complaints handling using agreed processes;
• Provision of advocacy function gathering information from passengers and representing the needs of all bus users by inputting into policy development;
• Promotion of bus as a means of transport.

Bus Users UK (operating in Scotland as Bus Users Scotland) handle complaints, campaign for and promote better services, and advocate on behalf of passengers and communities across Scotland.

The activities within Scotland, for which the grant is paid fall into these main areas: bus compliance monitoring, bus complaints handling, promotion of bus use, the advocacy of bus users’ needs and the provision of appropriate input into Scottish Ministers’ bus policy development.

Compliance: Bus Users monitor registered local bus services across Scotland, in accordance with bus registration documents obtained from the Office of the Traffic Commissioner for a variety of reasons including following up on passenger complaints, requests from the operators themselves, requests from the Traffic Commissioner, requests by Transport Scotland, requests by local authorities/ Regional Transport Partnerships.

The Bus Compliance Officer (BCO) provide data to Scottish Ministers regarding the punctuality and reliability of bus services registered with the Traffic Commissioner.

Bus Users employ four full time BCOs who work 35 hours per week with no set times, across seven days to monitor services across Scotland, with flexibility for monitoring of all services including weekend, early morning and late evening built in.

Complaints: Bus Users ensure a robust complaints process is in place, which is transparent, accessible and responsive to bus passenger needs. They deal with complaints that have initially been sent to the operator, as per the established procedures set out, and will take forward appeals as necessary to end of the process. They will also deal with complaints against themselves.

They will deal with complaints on most aspects of a bus or coach journey, from the attitude of the driver, to the condition of the vehicle, accessibility issues or indeed a personal injury.

Bus Users are unable to deal with complaints concerning commercial or policy decisions, complaints from pedestrians or any other road users, or a complaint which is subject to legal action. If the passenger concerned is under the age of 16, then they will require the consent of a parent or guardian in order to assist.

All complaints must initially be sent to the operator in the first instance. Bus Users will direct passengers to the relevant operator, allowing them 14 working days to respond.

Bus Users will inform the Traffic Commissioner of all complaint trends or issues that fall within the remit of the Traffic Commissioner.

Bus Users will gather and analyse data on complaints and the feedback received from customers, reporting issues and trends to bus operators, the Traffic Commissioner as appropriate and Transport Scotland as part of regular quarterly meetings.

Bus Users will feed in data on volumes and type of complaint, trends in complaints and how the operators are responding to the complainant into the annual report for Transport Scotland.

Bus Policy input and Advocacy: Bus Users will provide input into policy development by Scottish Ministers to represent the interests of all bus users ensuring that any special needs are taken into account.

Bus Users representatives will participate and work with a variety of internal and external stakeholders including bus partnerships created by the Bus Priority Fund consisting of Glasgow BPF, Edinburgh Bus Alliance, North East Bus Alliance, Fife BPF, Tayside BPF, Mid Lothian BPF, Highland BPF and chairing the Forth Valley BPF & the West Lothian Bus Alliance, to ensure that the impacts of the Bus Priority Fund have real tangible benefits for bus passengers and encouraging modal shift.

Other stakeholder involvement includes MACS, Disability Equality Scotland, Enable Scotland, AGE UK, Guide Dogs UK, and RNIB working to make bus travel and other modes of transport more accessible and inclusive, highlighting relevant issues.

Bus Users provide input and advice to ensure the interests of bus users are reflected in the development and delivery of bus policy in Scotland.

Bus Users will provide advice when requested by Scottish Ministers policy team on specific areas of development.

Bus Users will undertake some research where required on the views of users to areas of policy development. This could be in the form of focus groups or added questions to bus surgeries, for instance.

Bus Users will also bring to the attention of Scottish Ministers identified issues with policy that affect users.

Bus Users will work in cooperation with bus operators to identify and share best practice in complaints handling and customer service more generally.

Bus Users will undertake engagement events across Scotland: Let’s Talk Buses, to obtain a better understanding of all local bus related issues that passengers encounter. The results of these events to be compiled into a report providing detail and summarising findings which is shared with all key
stakeholders.

Bus Users also undertakes an annual UK wide campaign “Catch The Bus Month” to promote and highlight the benefits of bus, with events in Scotland.

Bus Promotion work: Bus Users will work to actively promote bus usage through a variety of on-going events and stakeholder engagements across Scotland.

Some events will be hosted by Bus Users, such as the Let’s Talk Buses Events, which promote positive aspects of bus within local communities, and Catch the Bus Month, promoting bus use across the UK, including events in Scotland.

Bus Users will work together with other stakeholders to promote bus use in Scotland, such as the Love my Bus Campaign, working in collaboration and partnership.

Bus Users will work directly with Scottish passengers and operators via local transport forums that are run in association with a local authority. Promotion of bus, exploring solutions for issues raised at local level with intended outcomes of promoting bus, and generally improving services across Scotland.

Fair Work First: Fair Work First is the Scottish Government's policy for driving high quality and fair work across the labour market in Scotland by applying fair work principles to grants, other funding and contracts. Fair Work First is applicable to all employers receiving public sector grant funding. Details of the principles for Fair Work First can be found at the following link - Fair Work First guidance - gov.scot.

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