refnation
Should all UK councils take public control of their bus networks, following Manchester’s model?
TransportEnded 1 Nov

Should all UK councils take public control of their bus networks, following Manchester’s model?

Yes 65%No 35%1,944 votes cast

Since the Bus Services Act 2025 (Royal Assent October 2025), every local transport authority in England can franchise its buses without ministerial consent, and councils may again create their own bus companies. Franchising is optional, not compulsory. Greater Manchester completed its Bee Network franchising in January 2025, at a reported set-up cost of about £134 million, and reports journeys up 14% in the first two areas. Liverpool City Region, West Midlands, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough are moving towards franchising, while rural areas such as North Yorkshire are only at assessment stage.

Jump to opinions· 53

A comfortable Yes win came with a twist: the best-rated arguments in the debate belonged to the losing side. Three No cases share the top rating, while the two Yes cases that lead their side sit well below them.

The most-respected Yes cases were built on Manchester itself. One former resident said its people “have no idea how good they have it”, and another argued franchising “stops the fragmented, expensive chaos of deregulation” while keeping private operators under public terms. A smaller Yes voice conceded “It doesn't have to be exactly the same model everywhere”, and another admitted “I fear for rural routes”.

The most-respected No cases were blunt and sceptical of councils: one said “I don't trust Councils to run a bath”, another asked about that £134 million set-up cost, and a third predicted publicly run services would be unreliable. The sharper No argument was geographic. Voters insisted Manchester is dense and self-contained, and that a model which works there is different from sparse counties such as Cornwall, Cumbria or the Cotswolds. One put it simply: “It doesn't work in largely rural counties where the network is sparse”.

That rural doubt touches a live national argument over whether local government can be trusted with more powers, in a law that makes franchising optional rather than compulsory. Several No voters ended up asking for local, case-by-case decisions, which is close to what the Act allows.

Yes voters offered Manchester as proof; No voters offered Manchester as the exception.

“As someone who lived in Manchester City Centre once upon a time the people of Manchester have no idea how good they have it. I've lived in multiple places in the UK and Manchester transport facilities are excellent.”

YES case · VictoriaRose · 3 respects

“I don’t trust Councils to run a bath. Nonsense idea & I doubt that the Manchester compactor is as successful as claimed. Will not work in rural areas, which is blindingly obvious to anybody with half a brain.”

NO case · JohnnyBoy · 6 respects

65%
Yes
majority
35% No
Votes1,944
Skipped85
You—

% voting yes, by leaning

99% yes among H. Left voters, 91 of them
92% yes among Left voters, 226 of them
84% yes among C. Left voters, 210 of them
72% yes among Centre voters, 234 of them
57% yes among C. Right voters, 291 of them
37% yes among Right voters, 715 of them
14% yes among H. Right voters, 192 of them
H. Left
Left
C. Left
Centre
C. Right
Right
H. Right
Cite this result

refnation referendum, closed 31 October 2026: “Should all UK councils take public control of their bus networks, following Manchester’s model?” — Yes 65%, weighted by political leaning (1,944 votes).

Free to quote with a link to this page — Copy includes it.

Download the counts (CSV) — the votes behind this result, by leaning, party, region and age.

Spread the wordShare
DocketRelated verdicts
Debate

53 Opinions

Sign in and vote to share your opinion.
JohnnyBoy· 671
The Hard-Right Contrarian Patriot
Voted noH. Right lean

I don’t trust Councils to run a bath. Nonsense idea & I doubt that the Manchester compactor is as successful as claimed. Will not work in rural areas, which is blindingly obvious to anybody with half a brain.

constancia· 890
The Fiscal Custodian
Voted noRight lean

How in the world did it cost £134m just to tell a set of bus companies to have a shared timetable??

CommonSense· 104
The Justice Conservative
Voted noRight lean

Its a nice idea but how often has anyone seen the council or the government run anything well? Im not denying there are exceptions but I can almost guarantee that in most areas, those publicly run services will be bloody awful, unreliable and be the bane of workers lives trying to get to work on time

Filsnail· 160
The Hard-Right Justice Conservative
Voted noH. Right lean

Sheffield did this in the 70s and forced rate payers to pay for cheap travel even if they didn't use public transport, they then tried to make it as difficult as possible to drive into the city centre.

Glasses· 904
The Command-and-Control Right
Voted noRight lean

Council tax will shoot up to cover losses that will follow. Most Council accountants haven't a clue on saving money,always spend to the limit. !

Seneca· 534
The Minimal Sovereigntist
Voted noRight lean

State control already means ineffective service and bad customer service

DavidSandilands· 726
The Union Pragmatist
Voted noC. Right lean

It works well in places like Manchester and Edinburgh where it's easy because of density and routes, most councils would just have the burden of working out how to subside low use services while adding their own inefficiency

MarkGoodge· 164
The Institutional Moderate
Voted noCentre lean

Council run public transport can work effectively in large urban areas such as Manchester, where there's a dense network and the majority of trips are within the city. It doesn't work in largely rural counties where the network is sparse and cross-border trips are more common.

AarontheHumanist· 314
The Welfare-Brake Conservative
Voted noC. Right lean

I live in BCP (Bournemouth) which combined towns has a private bus system. Prices are fair, or even fayre, the service is every 5 minutes, and Run a reduced service at night. Buses after 7pm are a quid. They are cheaper than the £3 cap, being £2.80 so already affordable, but obviously will be even better at £2 next year.

Orthophenia· 489
The Unbound Enterprise Conservative
Voted noRight lean

This would be the same councils who can't fill the potholes? Those councils? The same councils who keep needing 'exceptional financial support' to balance their books - those councils? Why on earth would you want to give them more responsibility? Governments have never, and will never, be as effective as private bodies in managing assets. The incentives are all wrong.