---
title: "Webinar: Is access to public transport necessary for realising key human rights?"
url: "https://www.systra.com/uk/events/is-access-to-public-transport-necessary-for-realising-key-human-rights/"
type: events
date_published: 2025-08-19
date_modified: 2025-10-20
schema:
  @type: WebPage
language: en-GB
word_count: 402
reading_time: 3 min
canonical: "https://www.systra.com/uk/events/is-access-to-public-transport-necessary-for-realising-key-human-rights/"
featured_image: "https://www.systra.com/uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2024/09/unrecognisable-people-holding-handles-above-them-on-bus-featured-header-image.png"
---

# Webinar: Is access to public transport necessary for realising key human rights?

![A photo of hands holding on to the handles above their heads on a bus](https://www.systra.com/uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2024/09/unrecognisable-people-holding-handles-above-them-on-bus-featured-header-image.png)

**The recent webinar hosted by Landor Links, in partnership with SYSTRA and the Bus Centre of Excellence, brought together a rich cross-section of transport industry specialists. The interesting discussion looked at importance of bus travel as a way of accessing key services.**

With the Bus Services Bill imminent, the in-depth presentations and lively
conversations helped frame the context and provide a baseline as to what is
needed for the sector.

One area of particular focus for us here at SYSTRA is looking at what is the
right charge for travel and how we can develop better passenger transport
solutions.

As one presenter outlined – there is a remarkable level of political consensus
on the importance of the bus, so working together can deliver optimum outcomes
for users.

The webinar went on to look at the social and economic benefits of efficient
services, and how over time, the policy case for buses has strengthened.

Cathryn Jones, Director of
[Fares and Ticketing](https://www.systra.com/uk/services/transport-strategy/fares-ticketing-strategy/)
at SYSTRA, concluded that a really good service, delivered simply, is the way
forward for encouraging more people to use bus services.

She said the important next steps are working out how we can achieve those
levels as an industry by using the tools available to us. We need to support
Local Authorities in designing, analysing and delivering the best strategies for
their communities.

In this webinar, the panel discussed:

- **What is really coming in the Buses Bill? Will it be Big and Beautiful, or Little and Limited?**
- **What are socially necessary services and how should their protection be organised and managed?**
- **How do – or should – local authorities raise funding for buses and public transport and how can services be improved with innovative funding mechanisms?**
- **Many countries and regions have laws or regulations that specify minimum service levels for public transport, including bus services. What are the varying legal frameworks behind these, and how do they operate in practice?**
- **Free public transport: does it actually mean better services and increased ridership? **

This session was chaired by **Cathryn Jones**, Director of Fares and Ticketing,
SYSTRA.

#### Speakers:

- **Beat Mueller,** Senior Consultant, Trans Missions, Public Transport &
  Finance, UITP
- **Brian Won**g, Partner, Burges Salmon
- **Emma Pym**, Principal Research Consultant, SYSTRA
- **Phil Wright**, Public Transport Programme Manager, West of England Combined
  Authority
- **Jerome Serodio,** National Coordination of Collectives for Free Public
  Transport in France