This obviously applies to other regions too, but new bus powers have been announced in the King's Speech, so we should start see a bill passing through Parliament this year:

"The King’s Speech is also expected to feature a Better Buses Bill to deliver the government’s manifesto commitment to reform the bus system by delivering new powers for local leaders to franchise local bus services and to lift the restriction on new publicly owned bus operators.

This will help bring an end to the postcode lottery of bus services and will give local communities throughout England the power to take back control of their bus services. It will mean local leaders can decide to introduce better bus networks, at pace, which reflect the needs of the local communities that rely on them."

Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/kings...ff-britain

It'll be interesting to see how this one plays out. All the fanfare with the 'Bus Back Better' under the Tories, ultimately suffered from a climb down on the lack of funding that was originally promised.

The move to finally remove the ban on Councils running bus services is a big step forward imo.

I don't think it's a one size fits all solution, but what it does introduce is a level playing field compared to other services that are considered for outsourcing. It's never been right that operators could charge what they want, as councils were prohibited from delivering the service in house.