Written question asked by Alex Mayer (Labour) on Wednesday, 26 November 2025, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 1 December 2025. It was answered by Keir Mather (Labour) on Tuesday, 2 December 2025 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

Bus Services and Railways: Accountability

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of moving rail functions from Transport Focus to the new passenger watchdog on integration between train and bus.

Answer: The Passenger Watchdog will be grown out of Transport Focus, which will be given significantly stronger powers to become a more effective passenger champion in rail. Therefore, no rail functions are being moved out of Transport Focus. The watchdog will be multi-modal from the start and continue to cover Transport Focus’ existing watchdog functions covering trams, buses, coaches and England's strategic road network. This ensures it can monitor transport user experience across these modes.

Secondary information