Hertfordshire County Council has secured £1.064 million from the Department for Transport to investigate whether taking direct control of bus services could deliver better journeys for residents in Rickmansworth and across the county.
The funding will pay for a Statutory Franchising Assessment, a detailed exercise involving financial analysis and public consultation on whether the council should set routes, timetables and fares through Transport for Hertfordshire, instead of leaving those decisions to private operators. Mark Doran, the council’s Executive Director for Growth and Environment, described the award as an exciting step, adding that more regular and reliable buses could make a real difference to people who rely on them for everyday trips.
The assessment’s early work, backed by a £360,000 DfT grant in 2025 that made Hertfordshire one of five English counties chosen for a national bus reform pilot, identified North and East Hertfordshire as the most promising area to test a franchising approach. The next phase will look more closely at how that could work in practice. In Rickmansworth, the hourly Route 725 already provides a direct limited‑stop link to Stevenage, St Albans and Hemel Hempstead, while services such as the on‑demand HertsLynx and a Dial‑a‑Ride for over‑75s and disabled residents offer alternatives in the Three Rivers district.
Councillors on the Environment, Transport and Growth panel gave the franchising work unanimous backing in principle on 16 April. Officials have cautioned, however, that a full county‑wide system might cost between £14 million and £174 million to set up, with annual running costs of about £62 million — sums the council currently considers unaffordable. The study will therefore concentrate on a smaller, more manageable pilot.
The research builds on improvements already delivered through the council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan, which has funded new routes, cheaper fares via the Hertfordshire SaverCard, and 150 real‑time departure screens since 2022. The Department for Transport says those efforts have helped push bus use in Hertfordshire 18 per cent higher than it was three years ago.
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