Audio Announcements on Buses

Audio next stop announcements help people who have sight loss and are unfamiliar with an area get around the network, but it’s only recently that the government has mandated they must be provided on all buses.

We’ve been proud to lead the way with audio announcements, which have been across all of our buses for around 15 years now.

New legislation – known as the Public Service Vehicles (Accessible Information) Regulations 2023 – state that bus operators must meet new set requirements. You may have recently started hearing announcements about buses being on diversion and when the bus is approaching it’s final stop, which are from the new requirements. 

To reassure customers that they are travelling on the correct bus and to the correct destination, these regulations also require us to announce the route number and destination of the bus each time the doors open at a bus stop. 

We will be monitoring how these new announcements play alongside the “next stop” announcements and we recognise the distance between some stops is short, which could hinder how they play.

The regulations have also introduced new standards on the volume of announcements, so they are not too intrusive to other customers, for example those who are neurodivergent. We already have a slightly lower volume at quieter times of day when fewer people are generally on the bus, but this new requirement may result in an adjustment in volumes.