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COURSE 04 - SERVICE AND AUTHORITY DESIGN

Network Design and Specification

Design a bus network your Authority can afford and an Operator can run

Your Authority has a role in shaping its bus network. The degree of control depends on whether it franchises, works through an Enhanced Partnership or improves services under its existing local transport plan. In this course, your team will identify what it can specify, what it needs to agree with Operators and what it can influence. You will then turn the outcomes in your transport plan into routes, frequencies and operating hours that an Operator can deliver. Your team will use its own network map, service list and boardings data. We ask you to provide these in a short form beforehand. By the end of the day, your team will have tested the network against what your Authority can afford, drafted a specification for two or three of your own routes and agreed how the network will change once it is running.

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How the day works.

Five steps from your current network  to a specification an Operator can price.

01

Know what you can shape

Start with your current network: the routes Operators run commercially, the services you fund, and services you do not plan but still need to connect with. The control your Authority has depends on the delivery route. Under a franchise, you decide the routes, frequencies and operating hours. Under an Enhanced Partnership, Operators decide which services to run. Your Authority can shape the network through scheme requirements, its list of socially necessary services and the services it tenders. Your team will sort real decisions into those it can specify, agree and influence.

02

Turn outcomes into a network

Every network has to balance frequent services on busy corridors with wider coverage. Your team will test the outcomes agreed in Course 1 against the current network and decide where that balance should sit. You will read your own boardings data to identify the busiest periods. We consider urban and rural networks separately. A rural network relies on timed connections, sensible operating hours and flexible services in ways that a city corridor does not.

03

Check what you can afford

The busiest hour of the day determines how many buses you need. Depot locations add running time with no passengers on board. The group will examine whether your Authority should own vehicles and depots or use Operator fleets, and what each option means for cost and your brand.

04

Write it down

Using the LiteFranchise template, your team will draft a specification for two or three of its own routes. The template covers routes, minimum frequencies, operating hours, stops and flexible services. The groups will swap drafts and test whether an Operator could price each one without further questions. If your Authority works through an Enhanced Partnership, you will draft the equivalent for your scheme.

05

Plan for change

Networks change once they are running. The group will work one change through notice, pricing, an equality impact assessment and consultation. You will identify the post that signs off each step.

What you leave with

What your team will leave with.

A clear view of your powers. Network decisions sorted by what your Authority can specify, agree or influence under its delivery route.
Network principles. A shared balance between frequent services and wide coverage, an approach for urban and rural areas, and peak periods identified from your own boardings data.
An affordability test. The number of buses your network needs at its busiest time, where your depots are, and what owning or not owning the fleet means for cost and branding.
A draft specification for two or three routes. Routes, minimum frequencies, operating hours, stops and any flexible services, written so that an Operator could price them.
Change arrangements. Notice periods, the pricing basis for changes, consultation steps and the named post that signs off each one.
A Network Design Brief and Service Specification Outline. A part-completed template your network team starts on the day and finishes afterwards.

Who should attend

Bring a mixed team of six to ten people.

This course is for your Authority if you are preparing a franchise, strengthening an Enhanced Partnership or managing tendered services. It works best with six to ten people from service planning, network management, tendered services, finance, procurement, legal, highways and accessibility.

Service planningNetwork managementTendered servicesFinanceProcurementLegalHighwaysAccessibility

Bring the service planner or public transport officer who handles timetable changes and Operator registrations. They know where your current network serves passengers well and where it lets them down. We examine whether your Authority should own vehicles and depots, and what that means for cost and branding. We also cover how to specify the outcomes you want, work with Operator fleets and depots, and manage network changes before a contract is re-tendered.

BUILD THE COURSES AROUND YOUR PLAN

How the ten courses fit your programme.

Course 1 sets the outcomes and the delivery route, and Course 3 builds the team that will manage the network. Course 4 turns those outcomes into a network you can specify. Course 5 covers how passengers pay and Course 6 the information they receive. Course 7 addresses the timetable data and systems behind the network, Course 8 carries the specification into a contract, and Course 10 manages change once the contract is live.

The course is core for Authorities preparing to franchise. For Authorities working through an Enhanced Partnership or a BSIP-led approach, the day concentrates on the powers they hold and the services they fund.

FranchisingEnhanced PartnershipBSIP-led
01 Strategy, Shaping Public Transport
02 Programme Design and Governance
03 Target Operating Model
04 Network Design and Specification
05 Ticketing Strategy and Specification
06 Customer Strategy and Engagement
07 Intelligent Transport Systems Specification and Integration
08 Contractual and Procurement Strategy
09 Artificial Intelligence Enablement across Transport Change
010 Contract Management and Improvement
LegendCore to your transport decisionRelevant; adapt to your scopeLight touch

Choose courses for your delivery route

Courses 1, 3, 6 and 9 can support your Authority whichever delivery route you choose. If you have not decided on a route yet, contact us and we can discuss how these courses fit your plans.