Demand Repsonsive Transport (DRT) is nothing new. It’s been part of the bus scene for decades famously tried as Dial-A-Ride in a number of loctions around the county in the 1970s including Harlow
Many community bus schemes continue to this day, including a huge operation run by TfL in London.
Regular blog readers will know I’ve been sampling DRT schemes from the passenger perspective ever since the latest craze began with Slide in Bristol in 2016. Local authorities, encouraged by tech companies and since 2020, the DfT, making funds available, having been introducing new schemes all over the country despite many of the original trials ceasing as complete failures.
While all this carries on over in Wiltshire a very successful rural bus route which combines a fixed timetable with flexible on demand route variations has been running between Pewsey and Devizes since 1999. Route 101 was originally branded as Wigglybus subsequently updated to ‘Connect 2 Wiltshire’ and in August 2023 upgraded to an an app based semi-flexible route together with a fully flexible companion operation branded as Wiltshire Connect.
Another long standing rural bus route offering a flexible routing on each journey depending who has requested it by telephoning in advance has been route 99 operated by Compass Bus between Chichester and Petworth in West Sussex. At the end of July 2023, as with route 101 in Wiltshire, this was upgraded to using an app along with a fully flexible second bus using the Book-A-Bus branding.
A similarly successful fixed/flexible arrangement has run in Lincolnshire for many years using the Call Connect brand.
The Salisbury Reds operated routes 101/2/3 in Wiltshire, Compass Bus route 99 and Call Connect in Lincolnshire traditionally all used the humble telephone with no expensive technology or app required. Perhaps that’s why they were successful and it’s too early to say whether the more recent developments in both Wiltshire and West Sussex to will be equally successful.
The only other scheme that seems to be fulfilling its objectives is the go2 branded taxi DRT scheme which supplements the limited conventional bus routes in Sevenoaks and the surround area.
The Chronology.
In response to reader requests, here’s a chronology of the new breed of app based DRT schemes introduced in Britain over the last five years with hyperlinks to blogs about my ride experiences.
August 2016: RATP with Padam Mobility launched ‘Slide” in a part of Bristol; ceased in November 2018.
March 2017: Arriva launched ‘Click’ in Sittingbourne; ceased in November 2019.
September 2017: Black cab booking app Gett combined with Citymapper to introduce a peak hours shared taxi route between Highbury & Islington and Waterloo Station branded as route BB1 (BlackBus 1) at a £3 fixed fare. It ceased on an unknown date not long after.
(My journey with Gett was before I started blogging but I recorded my journey on Twitter – the only DRT journey I’ve experienced with three other passengers travelling independently – making it quite cosy in a taxi.)
October 2017: McGills introduced ‘Connect & Go’ taking passengers between Upper Skelmorlie and Weymss Bay in North Ayrshire, funded by Strathclyde PTE. The service was expanded to include nearby Inverkip in March 2018 and ceased as a commercial venture in January 2019.
February 2018: Ford Motor Company backed ‘Chariot’ launched four routes in London to a fixed timetable but only bookable by an app; ceased in January 2019.
May 2018: First Bus (with Esoterix) launched ‘MyFirstMile’ in Bristol; ceased in December 2018.
June 2018: Go-Ahead owned Oxford Bus launched ‘PickMeUp’ in Oxford; ceased in June 2020.
August 2018: Arriva launched Click in Liverpool; ceased in March 2020 although one vehicle continued in Speke funded by MerseyTravel until withdrawal in April 2025 when it reverted back to a fixed timetable route.
April 2019: Arriva launched Click in New Lubbesthorpe, Leicester funded for three years by Section 106 payments from a housing developer. After the three funding ended in July 2022 the service was replaced with a two-buses half hourly fixed timetable route into Leicester operated by Vectare and branded Novus Direct with a two bus NovusFlex branded DRT operation locally in the New Lubbesthorpe and Narborough areas as well as links into Leicester not covered by NovusDirect.
March 2019: Newcomer Blue Bus launched B-Bus providing an app based demand responsive pick up bus service from hotels close to Paddington to Luton Airport as part of an ambitious plan which would see routes to other airports from all over London. It ceased within a few weeks.
May 2019: Zeelo introduced a peak hour fixed timetable app -only bookable commuter coach service between Newport and Bristol; ceased not long after at an unknown date.
May 2019: TfL launched GoSutton as a 12 month trial in the London Borough of Sutton operated by Go-Ahead London; ceased in May 2020.
August 2019: Zeelo introduced a peak hour commuter fixed timetable route only bookable through an app between Crawley and Gatwick Airport; ceased within weeks at an unknown date.
November 2019: TfL launched Slide as a 12 month trial in the London Borough of Ealing operated by RATP; ceased in May 2020.
Autumn 2019: Tandem launched an app based shared taxibus service between Wellingborough and Rusden Lakes aimed at shoppers and between Wellingborough and Raunds and Thrapston at peak times aimed at commuters; both ceased in that form at an unknown date morphing into bespoke contracts for warehouse style companies taking employees to work.
February 2020: Tees Valley Combined Authority launched ‘Tees flex’ as a three year funded ‘trial’ operated by Stagecoach. In February 2023 the contract was extended for a further 18 months.
May 2020: Go-Coach Hire in Sevenoaks replaced all its fixed timetable bus routes based on Sevenoaks during the first Covid lockdown with a DRT operation using fewer buses. Routes reverted back to fixed timetables as lockdown restrictions eased but the Company is now using the Go2 brand for app or phone requested journeys to supplement its slimmed down fixed timetables on rural routes with a Go2Direct brand for private hire taxis doing the same thing.
July 2020: Watford Borough Council funded a new Arriva Click operation in the Borough for a three year ‘trial’. This ended in December 2023 when Arriva withdrew the service after numbers travelling fell significantly short of expectations,
September 2020: North Lincolnshire Council morphed its long standing ‘CallConnect’ scheme (joint with Lincolnshire Council) into an app based DRT scheme branded as JustGo operated by Go-Ahead owned East Yorkshire.
December 2020: Developers in Ebbsfleet (Garden City) began funding an Arriva Click scheme to serve new housing pending a bus rapid transit scheme in later years. The service ceased four years later in December 2024 with Go-Coach Hire introducing a fixed route replacement (route GC1) in January 2025 to be supplemented with a DRT operation from February 2025 – see entry below.
April 2021: Milton Keynes Council replaced its tendered bus routes with a fleet of taxis operated by self employed drivers under direction from Via in a scheme called MKConnect.
April 2021: West Midlands Combined Authority introduced West Midlands On Demand (operated by National Express) and a taxi complimentary service (operated by a taxi company through Tandem) to serve Warwick University and its two campus sites (one of which is well served by buses). It was later combined with a Dial-A-Ride operation in the area. At the end of 2023 the service was cut back to only operate in the West Midlands area rather than Warwickshire and the University.
May 2021: Suffolk County Council introduced a limited service between Wickham Station, Wickham Market and Framlingham stopping at designated bus stops and branded as Katch. The one year pilot was extended by six months and ended in December 2022 with insufficient passengers making use of the service. However, in April 2023 Katch was revived for another 12 months trial – see entry under April 2023 below.
July 2021: Worcestershire County Council introduced a two bus DRT scheme in Bromsgrove called Bromsgrove On Demand as part of its ‘Worcestershire On Demand’ initiative operated by Diamond Bus. The geographic area was extended in August 2024 to include Wythall, Alvechurch, Stoke Pound and Stoke Prior.
July 2021: North Yorkshire County Council introduced YorBus between Ripon and Bedale ioperated by the County Council directly. It ended in June 2023 just two years later.
August 2021: Aberdeenshire Council introduced Ready2Go with five vehicles based on Inverurie operated by Watermill Coaches. It ended in April 2023 following pressure from local councillors and users to revert to conventional buses. The Council stated “a number of issues have been impacting the service including high running costs, relatively low numbers of passengers travelling at the same time on each bus and passengers being unable to book a bus journey. The recent Insch bus service survey indicated, on balance, a preference in that area for a timetabled service over Ready2Go with customers noting a deterioration in Ready2Go service reliability in more recent months as demand has increased across the service area.”
September 2021: Hertfordshire introduced HertsLynx with £1.4 million from the DfT’s Rural Mobility Fund for a four year period centred on Buntingford initially with three minibuses but expanding to five and operated by Uno.
The geographic area covered was extended to include Hertford and Ware on 4th December 2023 with two more buses and from the following week on 11th December a second scheme began serving the rural area in the Dacorum Borough Council area.
September 2021: West Yorkshire Combined Authority with Leeds City Council began funding a three year “pilot” costing £2.234 million called FlexiBus operated by First Leeds with seven minibuses. It ended in September 2023 after just two years.
October 2021: East Cheshire Council launched go-too operating two buses itself for a three year period with £1.26 million from the DfT’s Rural Mobility Fund based on Nantwich.
October 2021: Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority introduced a six month ‘trial’ using four Optare Solo buses operated by Stagecoach using the brand name ting in West Huntingdonshire. In early 2022 it was announced the six month ‘trial’ would be extended for a further six months …
…and later in the year further announced Vectare would be taking over the ting operation in November 2022. That two year contract ended at the end of November 2024 when the service was rebranded as Tiger T1 – see entry below under December 2024.
November 2021: Surrey County Council publicly launched the Surrey Connect DRT serving four small areas west of Leatherhead with £660K funding from the DfT’s Rural Mobility Fund. It’s operated by Mole Valley Community Transport and expanded in April 2023 to cover the whole District Council area of Mole Valley with five more schemes introduced in other parts of the county in September 2023 (see later entry).
March 2022: Norfolk County Council used its £700K grant from the DfT’s Rural Mobility Fund to introduce a Flexibus+ branded DRT scheme in an 85 square mile rural area south of the market town of Swaffham. Operated by Vectare it’s been given four years to become financially viable.
April 2022: Essex County Council introduced a DigiGo branded scheme across two areas in the rural area between Braintree and Chelmsford – Central Essex and South Braintree – using six electric buses and 22 drivers for a two year trial thanks to £2.575 million funding from the DfT’s Rural Mobility Fund.
April 2022: Staffordshire County Council upgraded its long standing Moorlands Connect DRT/Dial-a-Ride scheme in part of the Peak District National Park using £1.038 million funding from the DfT’s Rural Mobility Fund to pay for Via’s software and App. The scheme covers an area from Ashbourne in the south to Buxton in the north and over to Leek in the west.
May 2022: Borders Buses began operating Pingo – a two vehicle scheme (and a third when needed) with 16 seat Mercedes Sprinter minibuses which can also carry bicycles in rural Berwickshire. It ended two years later in May 2024 being replaced with a Taxi-Bus operated by a local taxi company taking bookings only by phone rather than an app.
May 2022: Stagecoach Midlands began operating IndieGo PLUS on behalf of Warwickshire County Council with three Mercedes Sprinter minibuses and a fourth spare in an area west of Warwick with £1.02 million funding from the DfT Rural Mobility Fund. This compliments two longstanding more traditional Dial-A-Ride schemes elsewhere in the county in Atherstone, Coleshill and Rugby branded as ‘IndieGo’.
July 2022: National Express Transport Solutions began operating FoxConnect serving villages in the south west of Leicestershire with £1.3 million funding from the DfT Rural Mobility Fund. A second scheme in the county began in January 2025 with a third in March 2025 – see further entries below.
August 2022: Following the demise of Arriva Click after three years operation in New Lubbesthorpe, Leicestershire Vectare began operating Novus Flex linking New Lubbersthorpe with Narborough as well as a fixed timetable Novus Direct route between New Lubbesthorpe and Leicester. Novus is part funded by the developer on a reducing subsidy over three years from August 2022 and part a commercial venture by Vectare. Vectare replaced the Novus Flex arrangement with a fixed timetable in July 2023 and withdrew the route in January 2025 in favour of a more frequent Novus Direct timetable.
August 2022: Nottinghamshire County Council introduced a four bus scheme branded as Nottsbus On Demand with £1.5 million funding from the DfT’s Rural Mobility Fund at the end of August in the rural area between Gainsborough and Retford and Newark. The area is split into two zones with two County Council owned minibuses operating the North Ollerton Zone and two six year old minibuses operated by Stagecoach in the South Ollerton Zone as well as on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings in Mansfield. (A fourth scheme based on West Rushcliffe was introduced in May 2023 and a fifth scheme in South Newark in April 2024 – see below).
August 2022: go2 is launched by Go-Coach Hire with financial support from Kent County Council in Sevenoaks using three six-seater licensed taxis with no advance booking, a limited geographic area (Greater Sevenoaks) and fares closer to taxi prices than bus fares with a reduction for concessionary passholders (but not free).
September 2022: PickMeUp is back but this time in High Wycombe as the Buckinghamshire Council funded scheme with a DfT Rural Mobility Fund grant of £736,000 begins a three year trial. Up to seven minibuses formerly used in the abandoned Oxford scheme of the same name were initially operated by Go-Ahead owned Carousel Buses but in June 2023 the operating area was extended and a fleet of eight new Mercedes Sprinter minibuses introduced.
October 2022: Gloucestershire County Council used £1.35 million from the DfT Rural Mobility Fund for two schemes in the county each for two years branded as The Robin. The North Cotswolds scheme is operated by Pulham Coaches and the South Forest of Dean by Lydney Community Transport each with two minibuses (one operational and one spare),
February 2023: Stagecoach began operating a DRT service with Section 106 funding until 2026 from a large residential development by Barratt Homes and Persimmon Homes in the village of Aylesham north of Dover in Kent. The area covered includes other nearby villages left without a bus service when Kent County Council withdrew funding for the subsidised shopping journeys which previously ran. The operation branded as Stagecoach Connect ceased in November 2025 with funding reverting to a fixed route and fixed timetable between Aylesham and Whitfield (route 92) instead.
March 2033: East Lothian based bus company Prentice converted its fixed timed route 109 (Haddington to Humble) to a DRT flexible arrangement but this ended in April 2024 since when the route between Haddington and Tranent is fixed timetable with the section beyond that to Humble bookable by web based form, email or telephone.
April 2023: West of England Combined Authority withdrew up to 40 tendered bus routes in the South Gloucestershire, Bath and North East Somerset and Bristol City Council areas and instead contracted E-Zec (through VIA and WeMove) to operate up to 50 minibuses branded as WESTlink across a wide area subdivided into three main zones North Zone, South Zone and a Future Travel Zone with two smaller zones bordering the north and south which are available for travel to either. £20 million of funding for a fixed two year period to March 2025 is paying for the WESTlink. In September 2024 further changes were made to some of the zonal boundaries and to save costs the 12 seater minibuses in the Bristol North zone were replaced by seven seaters using the Taxi/Private Hire licence regime operated by Via.
April 2023: As noted under the entry for May 2021 the DRT in East Suffolk branded as Katch ended in December 2022 but in April 2023 was resurrected for another 12 month trial this time being overseen by East Suffolk Council and funded by East Suffolk Community Partnership being operated by Coastal Accessibility Transport Services (CATS) – a not for profit community led organisation that has been running car sharing and Dial-A-Ride community type operations since 1997.
May 2023: East Sussex launched its ten zone FlexiBus DDRT scheme across the county with one bus in each zone with the objective of providing a service to areas without existing public transport services. The software is provided by The Routing Company and the venture is being funded out of East Sussex’s £41 million Bus Service Improvement Plan funding. In July 2024 the ten zones were reduced to just one county wide area but with a limit of 14 miles per journey.
May 2023: Nottinghamshire County Council introduced a fourth Nottsbus on Demand branded scheme in May 2023 operated by Kinchbus based on West Rushcliffe.
June 2023: Worcestershire County Council introduced its second DRT scheme (Worcestershire On Demand) based on Upton-upon-Severn and Kemsley with the ability to book a ride into Great Malvern (hospital, retail park and station) and Worcestershire Parkway station. Operated by LMS Travel and Malvern Community Action (which shares its vehicle with Worcester Wheels) the service is set up for a one year contract funded by the Council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan.
July 2023: West Sussex County Council introduced a second fully flexible bus (app and phone bookable) in the Petworth area to compliment the semi-flexible route 99 between Petworth and Chichester. Both buses are part of a Book-a-Bus branding which will be extended to further DRT schemes.
July 2023: Wiltshire Council revised its successful semi-flexible route 101 between Pewsey and Devizes so bookings can be made by an app alongside a second bus with complete flexibility, both under the Wiltshire Connect branding with two further zones and extra resources to be added later in the year. See entry for April 2025 when a further zone was added and the semi flex arrangement abandoned.
July 2023: Stagecoach began operating itravel for West Cheshire and Chester Council based on Frodsham with £1.075 million funding from the DfT Rural Mobility Fund for a three year pilot.
August 2023: West Sussex County Council introduced a second ‘North Petworth’ zone to its Book-a-Bus portfolio giving it a route 98 Flex identifier. It’s operated by Community Transport Sussex with funding from the Bus Service Improvement Plan.
August 2023: Heathrow Airport provides funding for a Go2Gate branded service operated by Thames Valley between Heathrow Terminal 5 and Dedworth.
September 2023: Surrey County Council expanded its Surrey Connect branded DRT operations from the original scheme in Mole Valley in November 2021 to five more areas in the county: Farnham, Cranleigh, Longross, Tandridge (photo below) and West Guildford. These zones were simplified in 2024 and extended in September that year as ten more shopper type rural routes were withdrawn mostly in the Guildford area. Further expansion came in October 2025 with the inclusion of Reigate (including Banstead, Tadworth, Merstham, Redhill, Salfords, and Horley) in the scheme.
November 2023: Shropshire Council introduced its Connect On-Demand service funded by its Bus Service Improvement Plan with phase 1 covering a rural area south of Shrewsbury to the villages Little Lyth and Pulverbatch previously served by fixed tendered routes 544 and 546 which were withdrawn from early December. A second area in the Oteley Road residential part of south East Shropshire was also included in phase 1 which was extended in phase 2 in January 2025 to include the new residential area of Weir Hill, Shrewsbury Business Park, Kingston Drive, and Love2Stay. The service is operated directly by Council staff with five vehicles including a battery-electric Mellor SIgma.
January 2024: West Berkshire Council introduced Community Connect with funding from its Bus Service Improvement Plan using one minibus operated by the Council connecting villages in the Northwest Downlands rural area with Newbury.
February 2024: West Sussex County Council added a 96 Flex service in its Book-a-Bus brand covering an area to the north west of Chichester operated by Community Transport Sussex.
February 2024: Derbyshire County Council launched Travel Derbyshire OnDemand using two minibuses operated by Derbyshire Community Transport across a large area centred on Chesterfield with BSIP funding initially for two-and-a-half years.
April 2024: Nottinghamshire County Council introduced its fifth Nottsbus On Demand scheme in an area to the south of Newark coincidental with hourly bus route 91 between Newark and Bingham being withdrawn as well as twice a week two return journey shoppers buses to Newark and Bottesford from various villages.
May 2024: Somerset Council introduced a new DRT scheme using the already established Slinky brand name for its non digital dial-a-ride type services in other parts of the council area. This new scheme covers a rural area based on Somerton with two buses operated by the Council itself using funding from its Bus Service Improvement Plan for a two year pilot.
June 2024: West Sussex’s Book-A-Bus gained another extension – route 97 Flex centred on Barnham.
July 2024: Nottinghamshire County Council added a sixth NottsBus On Demand scheme with a new Central Rushcliffe zone as well as extending the evening service in Mansfield to operate Mondays to Saturdays (previously only Thursdays, Fridays and Saturday evenings) and a new seventh scheme on Monday to Saturday evenings based on Newark.
August 2024: Buckinghamshire Council introduced its Village Connect branded scheme based on Aylesbury. Operated with three minibuses by WeMove from a base in Northwood the three year ‘pilot’ is funded by £1.14 million from the DfT’s Rural Mobility Fund having obtained approval in 2021.
December 2024: A2B Travel and Dews Coaches were awarded a new contract by Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority to operate the former ‘Ting’ DRT in West Huntingdonshire, now newly rebranded as Tiger with this first zone based on St Neots and given the number T1.
December 2024: Lichfield District Council began a six month pilot scheme branded as LinkUp connecting villages with Burntwood and Lichfield operated by Diamond East Midlands for WeMove and funded from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
January 2025: Go-Coach Hire took over the former Arriva Click DRT in Ebbsfleet initially operating it as a fixed route GC1 half hourly service but will change this to a DRT operation in the off-peak as well as supplementing the peak fixed route timetable from February 2025.
January 2025: Telford & Wrekin Council began TravelTelford On Demand linking Telford town centre with Ironbridge and Madeley using four buses on a Mondays to Fridays only operation as a “pilot” as part of its Bus Service Improvement Plan.
January 2025: Centrebus began operating Leicestershire County Council’s second FoxConnect branded DRT operation centred on Melton Mowbray. Funded by the County’s BSIP the three year scheme involves three vehicles operating across two defined zones, one north east of Melton Mowbray (two minibuses) and one to the south west (one minibus). These were joined in….
… March 2025: by five more zones north of Market Harborough with zones 3 and 4 operated by Premier Taxis and Zones 5, 6 and 7 by Centrebus.
March 2025: Hampshire based Community First began a Connect Transport On Demand service based on Andover and the surrounding North Test Valley with two minibuses (eight and 16 seater Mercedes) funded by the County Council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan for two years with a possible third year extension.
March 2025: Rutland County Council introduced the first phase of its planned widespread introduction of DRT to replace most fixed timetabled bus routes with the withdrawal of route R2 and a new DRT zone linked to Oakham and Melton Mowbray. It’s operated by Lincolnshire’s Call Connect with funding from Rutland’s BSIP.
April 2025: Wiltshire Council abandons its semi-flex arrangement whereby fixed timing points along routes were supplemented by route variations to serve smaller hamlets as needed and instead reduced the fixed timetable content and offering a fully flexible zone together with a new zone based on Royal Wootton Bassett and Malmesbury operated by Via.
May 2025: Portsmouth City Council launched Pompey Link initially as a 10 month trial, subsequently extended to March 2027, in the Paulsgrove and Port Solent areas operated by Community First with two acquired second hand minibuses.
Fflecsi in Wales
Transport for Wales have been introducing a number of Fflecsi branded DRT schemes throughout Wales from mid 2020 including in Blaenau Gwent, Cardiff, Conwy Valley, Denbigh, Holywell, Glyn Peninsula, Newport, Pembrokeshire, Prestatyn and Rhondda. Details are available on a dedicated website here: https://www.fflecsi.wales
The Cardiff Fflecsi replaced a fixed timetable on route G1 in north Cardiff in June 2020 but reverted to a fixed timetable while the Newport scheme was withdrawn and reverted to fixed timetable buses in September 2022 and the Blaenau Gwent scheme was similarly replaced by a fixed timetables (in the off peak) in June 2023 while in October 2023 the Fflecsi Bwcabus services in Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion ended.
BusAndTrainUser 