Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) Guidance for community transport organisations
The Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) is a discretionary grant paid to eligible community transport operators to help them recover some of their fuel costs. The amount each operator receives is based on the amount of fuel they use running eligible services.
- Opening date: (Midnight)
- Closing date: (Midnight)
Contents
Summary
The Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) is a discretionary grant paid to eligible community transport operators to help them recover some of their fuel costs. The amount each operator receives is based on the amount of fuel they use running eligible services.
BSOG aims to benefit organisations by:
Helping to keep running costs down and
Enabling organisations to run services that might otherwise be unviable and be cancelled
Organisations in receipt of the grant must keep accurate records of the eligible kilometres run and the fuel consumed in running community transport services so as to satisfy officers of the Department for Transport (DfT) that the figures on the claim are correctly stated.
It should be noted that while the DfT’s intentions are to avoid placing unnecessary administrative burdens on organisations, officers of DfT or the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) will periodically visit organisations to check that claims comply with the appropriate legislation and to ensure that accurate records are being kept in support of claims.
Incentives
Smartcard and AVL incentives
Operators may receive an 8% increase in their BSOG rate for vehicles that have operational smartcard systems installed and a further 2% increase for vehicles that are fitted with automatic vehicle location equipment.
Low carbon emission bus (LCEB) incentive
Operators of vehicles that hold a low carbon emission certificate may be eligible for an additional 6p per kilometre for those vehicles.
A low carbon emission vehicle must have 22 or more seats and be able to achieve a 30% reduction in its greenhouse gas emissions compared to an average Euro 3 diesel bus of the same passenger capacity.
Zero emission bus (ZEB) incentive
Operators of vehicles that hold a zero emission bus certificate may be eligible for a 22p per kilometre rate of BSOG for those vehicles.
Eligible buses must:
meet the normal BSOG rules
demonstrate zero tailpipe emissions
have no internal combustion engine (for example, electric and hydrogen buses)
This will need to be verified by certification, which builds on the existing testing and certification process for the LCEB incentive.
Vehicles for which operators receive the ZEB incentive are not eligible for any other incentives.
Operators who believe they are entitled to any of these incentives should request the forms from bsog@dft.gov.uk.
Eligibility
The following is a brief description of eligibility for community transport operators wishing to claim the grant for services operated in England and is for guidance only.
To qualify for the grant an organisation must first hold a section 19 permit and be able to produce evidence, such as a copy of their constitution or annual report, showing that it provides transport services in the eligible categories.
To qualify for the grant, community transport services must be eligible services operated by non-profit making bodies on the basis of a permit issued under section 19 of the Transport Act 1985.
Eligible services are those used wholly or mainly by:
persons who are 60 years old or above
disabled persons (a person who has a physical or mental impairment which has substantial long term adverse effects on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities)
persons in receipt of Income Support under section 124 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992
persons in receipt of Universal Credit under part 1 of the Welfare Reform Act 2012
persons in receipt of Jobseekers Allowance under the Jobseekers Act 1995
persons in receipt of Employment and Support Allowance payable under Part 1 of the Welfare Reform Act 2007
persons suffering a degree of social exclusion by virtue of unemployment, poverty or other economic factors, homelessness, geographical remoteness, ill health or religious or cultural mores
persons who believe that it would be unsafe for them to use any public passenger transport services
carers or persons under 16 years of age accompanying any of the above
DfT no longer pays BSOG for the following categories of services:
services operated under franchise to Transport for London
community transport (s19) services operated in-house by English local authorities
various specialist services
services supported under tender by English local authorities, except incentives for smartcard, automatic vehicle location and/or low carbon emission vehicles
commercial services operated within the Transport for Greater Manchester boundary
Objectives
BSOG aims to benefit organisations by:
Helping to keep running costs down and
Enabling organisations to run services that might otherwise be unviable and be cancelled
Dates
Claim years
Operators are given the choice of claiming on either a six-monthly basis (April to September and October to March); or on an annual basis (either April to March or October to September). Depending on when the Section 19 permits were registered your first claim may not be for a full 6 or 12 months.
Operators who believe they are entitled to any of these incentives should request the forms from bsog@dft.gov.uk.
How to apply
Fuel type - Unit payable - BSOG rate from 1 January 2014
Diesel -Pence per litre - 34.57
Biodiesel - Pence per litre - 34.57
Bioethanol - Pence per litre -34.57
Biofuels (used cooking oil) - Pence per litre - 34.57
Unleaded petrol - Pence per litre -32.66
Natural gas used as road fuel -Pence per kilogram -18.88
Road fuel gas other than natural gas - Pence per kilogram -18.88