Bus franchising North East: What is it?
The North East Bus Franchising Consultation is open. This is a rare chance to reshape how buses are planned and delivered. We are responding as part of our Getting from A to B accessible transport campaign (which you can read more about here).
Filling in a consultation is a pressure point. Use it. Then together with Difference NE, you can hold decision-makers to it.
Complete the bus francising survey here
Right now, private bus companies set routes, timetables, fares and service standards. An ‘Enhanced Partnership’ is in place, but bus companies still control key decisions.
The proposal is a Bus Franchising Scheme. If introduced, bus companies would be contracted by the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority (North East MSA) to run services. The public would have more say over services, timetables, routes and fares.
This consultation asks for your views on that proposal.
Bus franchising North East: Why this matters for disabled people
For disabled people across the North East, a journey that looks simple on a map can be anything but.
- 64% of disabled people faced barriers using public transport, per our 2026 Access to the Everyday Report (which you can read here).
- 21% of people in the North East are disabled – the highest proportion in England.
- That is 560,000+ people.
- Our report was built from conversations with 77 disabled people across the region.
- Nearly two thirds had faced barriers on public transport in the past year.
- Transport decides whether people can get to hospital appointments, take a job, attend community events, or simply leave the house.
Bus franchising must work for disabled people in the North East, not around them.
What Difference North East is asking for Disabled people’s lived experience embedded from the start – co-design, not consultation at the end.
Complete the North East Bus Franchising Consultation
The consultation closes at 9am on Monday 28 September 2026.
Complete the consultation survey! This link takes you to the official SurveyMonkey consultation.
Share your transport story!
Has a bus journey been inaccessible? Have you been stranded, refused, or made to feel like an obstacle?
Related accessible transport campaign work
This consultation sits within our wider Getting from A to B campaign.
- Read our NECA Transport Plan response
- Wheelchair-Accessible Taxis in the North East
- Disabled Bus Pass Win: 9:30am Restriction Scrapped from April 2027
Back to Getting from A to B
