The choice of location for a new home often depends upon the public transport available in the area. Now bus passengers are set to benefit from dedicated door to door services under new proposals from the Department for Transport and this may make the choice of location just that little bit easier.

Changes to the bus registration system mean service providers will be able to offer a wider range of flexibly routed services.

Three new types of bus service will be possible with individual journeys pre-booked by passengers in advance. These are:

• The 'many to one' service - picking up individual passengers from a location specified by them (perhaps their home), and taking them to a single, fixed destination.
• The 'one to many' service - passengers are picked up from fixed boarding points and taken to various, specified, destinations on demand.
• The 'many to many' service - this offers maximum flexibility, allowing the service to pick up passengers from various locations, on demand, and taking them to disparate destinations (within a defined geographical area of operation), again on demand.

Transport Minister John Spellar said:

"These changes mean passengers will benefit from bus services tailored to meet their needs. This is important to all those in rural and urban areas whose travel needs are not currently met adequately by conventional bus services.”

“Elderly and disabled passengers will also benefit from door to door services allowing them to more easily go to the shops or visit friends and family."

The move follows a government consultation exercise last August on ways the bus registration system could be adapted to allow for more flexible services.