In conjunction with regional transport partnership SWestrans, Dumfries and Galloway Council is engaged in a live tender process to re-procure bus services.
SWestrans is responsible for delivery of the local bus network, while the home-to-school transport network is the statutory responsibility of Dumfries and Galloway Council.
The contracts for bus services for home-to-school transport are due to expire at the end of this academic year and the subsidised local bus network contracts operated by SWestrans will end on 3 August 2025.
There is a need to re-procure contracts to provide these services from August 2025.
As part of the tender process, the council and SWestrans need to ensure that we have bus operators that meet minimum requirements on a range of industry-standard terms and conditions. This is in order to protect the public interest.
Dumfries and Galloway Council and SWestrans continue to work through a tender process that has supporting and connecting the communities of Dumfries and Galloway firmly at its heart.
The council takes its statutory duties to provide those children entitled to school transport extremely seriously and are committed to ensuring all school transport routes are operational for the start of the school year in August, with these routes being given priority. In addition, the council and SWestrans are committed to providing a well-connected local bus network.
These long-term contracts will provide bus operators with certainty and stability in a market that is increasingly fragile and unsustainable.
The evaluation, clarification and negotiations relating to tenders received from bus operators is ongoing and confidential. With this in mind, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.
We will issue a further update on the Latest News section of our website on Monday 23 June AM.