The Scottish Government has delivered all the bus powers in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 to enable local transport authorities to consider all the powers available to them, including franchising, and we will provide general and statutory guidance on the franchising process. This is currently under development and will be published once the remaining franchising legislation is completed.

It is for local transport authorities to determine what powers, if any, to use to improve local bus services. Any authority considering the franchising powers must ensure that their business case is made robustly and in an evidence-based way to support future decisions.