The Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) has called on the Government to exempt closed-door school services from Bus Open Data (BODS) requirements. In a paper shared with the Department for Transport, CPT argues that current regulations place an unnecessary burden on operators of these services, leading to increased costs, administrative complexity, and potential safety concerns.
Key arguments outlined in the paper include that there is no public benefit since closed-door school services are not intended for public use, making the publication of their data on BODS irrelevant for passenger information, whilst significant costs are attached to complying with BODS regulations, including the installation of vehicle tracking devices and data entry, which imposes substantial costs on operators.
The CPT also cites operational challenges as a result of the flexible nature of school schedules and frequent last-minute changes which can make it difficult for operators to consistently meet BODS requirements, and safety concerns over the publishing real-time location data of school buses on public platforms could potentially raise safety concerns for children.
The Confederation has proposed several possible solutions, including exempting closed-door school services from BODS requirements entirely, exempting closed-door school services from registration requirements, and broadening the definition of ‘privately organised trips’ to include more school services.
“Compelling closed-door school services to comply with BODS regulations is not only unnecessary, but also burdensome and potentially detrimental to the industry,” said Gavin Miller, National Operations Manager at CPT. “We urge the Government to consider these changes to reduce costs for operators, improve compliance, and create a more level playing field for the school transport market.”
