The UK Department for Transport has published formal guidance titled Guidance: Creating and managing a bus network accessibility plan (Bus NAP), issued on 28 August 2026. The document sets out the framework for establishing a bus network accessibility plan intended to improve travel for disabled people.
The guidance explains how to set up and manage a Bus NAP. Its stated purpose is to support independent, safe and comfortable travel for disabled people.
By concentrating on both creation and ongoing management, the guidance addresses the lifecycle of a plan from inception to maintenance. That dual focus is conveyed in the title and in the Department for Transport’s description of the material.
The material is presented as practical guidance rather than prescriptive regulation. It is aimed at guiding the development of measures that make bus travel more accessible to people with disabilities.
The Department frames the Bus NAP as a tool to promote independence and safety for disabled passengers. The guidance is intended to help co-ordinate actions that improve the experience of using bus services for those passengers.
What the guidance is for
At its core the Bus NAP guidance is concerned with setting up a bus network accessibility plan and with providing a management approach. The guidance is expressly described as supporting independent, safe and comfortable travel for disabled people.
The emphasis in the document is on planning and management rather than on technical specifications or immediate operational requirements. It therefore reads as a strategic resource for those involved in shaping bus networks and service provision.
Publication details and framing
The guidance was published by the UK Department for Transport on 28 August 2026. The department presents the Bus NAP as a framework to be used when creating and managing plans intended to enhance accessibility.
Its publication date and formal title identify it as a current government document setting out the department’s approach to bus network accessibility planning.
Taken together, the guidance offers a structured description of what a Bus NAP is and why it is considered necessary. It places the experience of disabled passengers at the centre of the planning exercise and frames accessibility as an objective of network management.
The Department for Transport’s guidance is a clear statement of intent about the role of planning in improving accessibility. The document’s existence underlines a continuing official focus on ensuring bus travel is independent, safe and comfortable for disabled people.
The guidance will now sit as a reference point for any organisation or body that wishes to create or review a bus network accessibility plan in accordance with the approach the Department for Transport has set out. It provides a named framework and an explicit aim for accessibility planning in the context of bus networks.
As a published government document dated 28 August 2026, the Bus NAP guidance establishes the Department for Transport’s current position on the matter and supplies a defined starting point for future work on accessibility in bus travel.