BidSkim
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Service market

Bus franchising contracts

UK public sector · 363 contracts awarded in the 12 months to 6 October 2026

Covering 600+ buyer portals · 5 years of records · Updated 6 October 2026 · How we count

Contracts awarded
363
Last 12 months
Median contract
£751k
Recorded value
Recorded value
£1.4bn
351 of 363 main-service contracts have a published value
Buyers
54
Suppliers
128

BidSkim assigns contracts to services from the notice text. How services are assigned

What stands out

  • The five suppliers that won the most bus franchising contracts took 34% of them (124 of 363).
  • The median contract, £751k, is 7.4 times the median across transport & logistics contracts (£101k).
  • London had the most contracts: 132, or 36% of the total.

Who buys bus franchising

By contracts awarded, the 12 months to 6 October 2026.

  1. 1London Bus Services Limited96 contracts
  2. 2Transport for London36 contracts
  3. 3Norfolk County Council28 contracts
  4. 4East Riding of Yorkshire Council24 contracts
  5. 5East Sussex County Council23 contracts
  6. 6Devon County Council12 contracts
  7. 7Gloucestershire County Council11 contracts
  8. 8Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority10 contracts
  9. 9Leicestershire County Council8 contracts
  10. 10Tees Valley Combined Authority8 contracts

Top bus franchising contractors by contracts won

The 12 months to 6 October 2026.

  1. 1Stagecoach43 contracts
  2. 2London United24 contracts
  3. 3Metroline21 contracts
  4. 4Arriva London North Limited20 contracts
  5. 5Transport UK16 contracts
  6. 6East Yorkshire Buses15 contracts
  7. 7East Kent Road Car Company14 contracts
  8. 8London General13 contracts
  9. 9First Bus11 contracts
  10. 10Stagecoach Selkent9 contracts

Latest and largest awards

Each links to the official notice.

Latest

Largest

Contracts awarded by quarter

48Q4 2025*135Q1 202681Q2 202698Q3 20261Q4 2026*
* part quarter

Where the contracts were awarded

England 339 · Scotland 15 · Wales 9

London132East of England44South East33South West33Yorkshire and The Humber30East Midlands16North East15Scotland15North West10Wales9West Midlands7UK-wide or not stated19

What is included

An operator runs local bus routes for a council, combined authority, Transport for London or Transport Scotland, supplying vehicles and drivers under a supported route, lot or network contract or a gross-cost franchise contract where the authority sets routes, timetables and fares.

  • Supported and council-funded local bus routes
  • Rural, evening, Sunday and island stage services
  • Local bus network lots and supported bus DPS call-offs
  • Zero-emission local bus routes
  • Supported networks that include park and ride routes as part of the network
  • Scheduled public routes with on-board fares that pupils also use
  • London bus route tenders (typically 5 to 7 year route contracts)
  • Franchised route packages in mayoral combined authorities
  • School services run inside a franchised network

What is not included

  • Park and ride or site shuttle bought as its own contract (trn.bus.park-and-ride-and-shuttle-buses)
  • Tram or rail replacement buses (trn.bus.rail-replacement-and-emergency-buses)
  • Zone-based on-demand bus services (trn.taxi.demand-responsive-transport)
  • Dial-a-ride and community bus services (trn.taxi.community-transport)
  • Home-to-school routes for eligible pupils (trn.assist.mainstream-home-to-school-transport)
  • Buying buses for the authority's fleet (trn.vehicle.buses-and-coaches)
  • Ticket machines, smartcards and concessionary passes (it.lob.public-transport-ticketing)
  • Real-time passenger information (it.lob.real-time-passenger-information)
  • Bus priority and bus stop highway works (con.civils.highway-improvements)
  • Bus and coach cleaning (cln.trans.bus-and-coach-cleaning)

Often bought by the same buyers