Catch the Bus Month is a nationwide campaign in the UK that takes place annually in September. Organised by Bus Users UK, it aims to promote bus travel and raise awareness about the benefits of using public transport. The campaign encourages people to switch from cars to buses, highlighting bus travel’s environmental, economic, and social advantages.

The campaign addresses several key areas:

1. Environmental Benefits: Promoting bus travel as a greener alternative to cars, reducing carbon emissions, and easing traffic congestion.
2. Economic Benefits: Highlighting the cost savings of using buses over cars and supporting local businesses by increasing foot traffic in town centres.
3. Accessibility and Inclusion: Stressing the role of buses in providing accessible and affordable transportation for everyone, including those who don’t have access to cars, such as elderly people, young people, and those living in rural areas.
4. Health Benefits: Walking to and from bus stops and reducing reliance on cars can improve physical fitness and mental well-being.

Throughout Catch the Bus Month, local and national events include free travel days, community engagement activities, and partnerships with local authorities and transport operators to improve bus services and encourage more people to use them regularly.

You can find out more on the Bus Users UK website.

In Contactless Model 3, a contactless EMV card or device is associated with a pre-purchased ticket and used to travel.

Travelling on a Contactless Model 3 scheme would require you to tap an associated contactless card on a card reader before travel so the bus operator can confirm the card gives you the authority to travel.

Although not yet deployed on UK buses, Contactless Model 3 would allow you to pre-purchase season tickets, carnets, or any other type of ticket and associate them with a contactless EMV card or device. Associating travel with a card or device would replace the need for paper tickets and mean being charged ahead of travel.

Contactless Model 3 could also associate a payment card with a concession, a discount, or even free travel.

This differs from Contactless Model 2, where you are charged based on your journeys after travelling.

The Bus Recovery Grant (BRG) is a way for the Government to support commercial bus operators in England due to the impacts of coronavirus (COVID-19) on their revenue from reduced passenger numbers.

To be eligible for the Bus Recovery Grant funding, operators must:

• Be a public bus operator running commercial or community bus services in England outside of London.
• Meet the eligibility criteria for the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG).
• Operate 90% or more of pre-COVID-19 mileage levels during periods 1 to 10 and 80% from period 11.

The powers of the Equality Act 2010 allow the government to make regulations requiring all new land-based public transport vehicles (trains, taxis, buses and coaches) to be accessible to disabled people, including those who need to remain in wheelchairs.

The regulations that govern access to buses and coaches are known as PSVAR. PSVAR has been applied to all new buses and coaches which carry more than 22 passengers and are used on local or scheduled services since 31 December 2000.

You can read all about PSVAR (Public Service Vehicles Accessibility) on the Department for Transport website.

An Enhanced Partnership is an agreement between a local authority and the bus operators in its region, to deliver a joined-up network of bus services.

In the past, bus operators could operate as if their competitor operators didn’t exist. This makes catching the bus harder for those that do. By working more closely together, through an Enhanced Partnership managed by the local authority, the overall bus services are improved for everyone using them.

The first Enhanced Partnership in the UK was set up by Hertfordshire County Council’s Intalink in 2020. The National Bus Strategy, launched in March 2021, describes how all local authorities should adopt either an Enhanced Partnership or Franchising approach to managing their local bus networks.

Franchising is an alternative approach to Enhanced Partnerships, used in some areas of the United Kingdom such as Transport for London (and in future Greater Manchester).

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is focused on providing an international technical standard for web content. It has guidelines that are organised under four principles: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. The guidelines each have testable success criteria at three levels: A, AA, and AAA.

Account-Based Ticketing is a ticketless way of allowing people to travel. Users tap or scan a smart card, mobile phone, contactless bank card or other secure token linked to an account to make their journey.

Demand responsive transport (also known as demand responsive transit) is a form of shared transport for where vehicles alter their routes for each journey based on demand, without using a fixed route or timetabled journeys. These vehicles typically pick up and drop off passengers in locations according to passengers needs and can include taxis, buses or other vehicles.

Backward compatible refers to a hardware or software system that can successfully use interfaces and data from earlier versions of the system or with other systems.

MaaS is a type of service through a joint digital channel that enables users to plan, book, and pay for multiple types of mobility services. The concept describes a shift away from personally-owned modes of transportation and towards mobility provided as a service.

There is a great deal of debate about what MaaS is, with many now using the term to mean a digital interface to transportation.

The concept originated from MaaS Global, a company that pioneered the idea that you should be able to pay for your transportation needs, like your mobile phone, on a monthly subscription plan.