A public consultation is opening up in Sheffield encouraging the public to have their say on South Yorkshire’s plans to franchise bus services.

The plan aims to give people more opportunity to have their say, even if they are not frequent bus users.

Sheffield City Council announced the plans to franchise the city’s bus services, in an aim to improve reliability and passenger control over routes, fares, and frequencies.

The consultation will open on October, 23.

Councillor Leader Tom Hunt said: “Improving public transport is about social justice.

“Unreliable and infrequent buses rob people of opportunities.” 

By using the franchising bus model, control of things such as frequencies of buses, routes, fares and tickets will be brought under local public control, rather than being decided by private bus companies. 

Councillor Hunt continued: “I know that our buses are currently not good enough. For too long private bus companies have been able to put profit before passengers.” 

The current system has meant that passengers have had little control and authority over the public transport they may use daily, with the council wanting to change this for the better. 

Since the privatisation of Sheffield buses in 1986, bus services have been free to choose their own routes and set their own fares without the input of the public in order to increase profits. 

South Yorkshire’s Supertram was brought back under public control in March, with the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority now being in charge of the running of the network.

If the council go through with their plans to franchise, they will join the likes of Manchester, who regained control of their bus service in 2023, and the Liverpool City Region, who plan to have a fully franchised bus service by 2028.

For more community stories, click here.