Our history

Since 1985 we’ve been improving bus and coach services and giving passengers a voice

Find out more

Bus Users was established as the first official body outside of London to represent bus passengers

Highlights

1985
  • Set up by our President Emeritus, Dr Caroline Cahm, we were originally known as the National Federation of Bus Users
  • We started running local events, giving passengers a chance to speak direct to the people running their services
  • With the backing of the Confederation of Passenger Transport, we launched a complaints handling service
2002
  • We won support and funding from the Welsh Government to set up an office in Cardiff
2004
  • We officially became Bus Users UK
2010
  • Our work handling passenger complaints was formally recognised by the Department for Transport
2013
  • We won the backing of the Scottish Government to fund our work handling complaints and running local events in Scotland
  • We set up compliance monitoring in Wales and Scotland to improve services, hold operators to account, and provide evidence to the Traffic Commissioners
  • We became the Nominated Body for complaints under the European Passenger Rights Regulation
2017
  • Bus Users became the first approved Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Body for bus and coach passengers
2018
  • We registered as a UK charity (No1178677) with a new mission: to bring people together through socially inclusive transport
2019
  • Our charitable status in Scotland was officially approved (SC049144)
2021
  • Our Chief Executive, Claire Walters, was appointed Disability and Access Ambassador for buses
Bus Users 2023-08-14T15:09:32+01:00