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Transport Act 1985

Type Public General Act

Publication 1985-10-30

Last updated 2026-02-24

State In force

Department Statute Law Database

Source legislation.gov.uk

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(b) the requirements imposed under section 138A(5)(b) of the Transport Act 2000 that are recorded by the authority as applying to services registered under section 6;

(5) A record kept under this section is admissible in evidence of the matters required under this section to be entered in that record.

(6) A copy of an entry made in such a record in pursuance of this section purporting to be—

(a) signed on behalf of the authority by which the record is kept, and

(b) certified as a true copy,

is evidence of the matters stated in that entry without proof of the signature or authority of the person signing it.

(7) Regulations may be made for the purpose of carrying this section into effect and any such regulations may, in particular, make provision—

(a) as to the form of records under this section and the particulars they must contain;

(b) as to the particulars to be supplied to a traffic commissioner under this section.

(8) In this section—

“local transport authority” has the meaning given in section 108(4) of the Transport Act 2000;

“the relevant registration functions” has the same meaning as in section 6G.

6J

(1) Regulations may make provision about the charging of fees where an authorised person exercises a function of a traffic commissioner in relation to an application specified in subsection (2).

(2) Those applications are—

(a) an application under section 6 of this Act for the registration of a relevant service,

(b) an application under section 6 of this Act for the variation of the registration of a service that, as varied, would be or continue to be a relevant service, and

(3) Regulations under this section may allow or require the authorised person to charge fees in respect of the application to which the function relates.

(4) The regulations may—

(a) specify the fees chargeable, or

(b) make provision about the setting of fees by the authorised person, including provision about determining the amounts of such fees.

(5) The regulations may include provision about—

(a) who must pay the fees and at what times, and

(b) whether the fees are payable in one sum or in instalments.

(6) The regulations may provide that, if a fee or instalment of a fee due under the regulations has not been paid, the authorised person may decline to proceed with an application referred to in subsection (2) to which the fee or instalment relates until the fee or instalment is paid.

(7) The regulations may make provision about how amounts received in respect of fees charged under the regulations are to be applied.

(8) Provision made by virtue of subsection (7) may include—

(a) provision for such amounts not to be payable to the traffic commissioner, and

(b) provision that such amounts are to be paid, or not to be paid, into the Consolidated Fund.

(9) The regulations may provide that fees are not to be charged under section 52 of the 1981 Act (as applied by section 126 of this Act) in respect of the applications referred to in subsection (2).

(10) In this section—

“authorised person”, in relation to a function of a traffic commissioner, means a person authorised to exercise that function by virtue of an authorisation given in accordance with an order under section 69 of the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994;

“relevant service” means a service which has stopping places only in England;

“service” has the meaning given in section 6(1).

Registration of local services

Provision of service information in Scotland

6ZA

(1) This section applies where an operator of a local service registered under section 6 notifies an affected authority in accordance with regulations under that section that the operator proposes to make an application to vary or cancel the registration.

(2) The affected authority may, within such period as may be prescribed, require the operator to provide them with such information relating to the local service as may be prescribed.

(3) The information that may be prescribed is information relating to—

(a) the number of passengers using the service, the journeys made by those passengers and the fares paid by them, and

(b) the revenue obtained by operating the service.

(4) A requirement for information under subsection (2) may be made only—

(a) for the purposes of the affected authority exercising their functions under section 9A of the Transport Act 1968 or, as the case may be, section 63 of this Act, and

(b) in respect of—

(i) the period of 12 months ending on the day on which the requirement is made, or

(ii) where the service has not operated for the whole of the period of 12 months preceding the day on which the requirement is made, the period of operation up to the day on which the requirement is made.

(5) An operator who is subject to a requirement under this section—

(a) must provide any information required under subsection (2) within such period as may be prescribed,

(b) may, at the same time, provide evidence that the disclosure of some or all of the information it has provided is likely to damage its commercial interests and request that the information in question is not disclosed under section 6ZB(3).

(6) For the purposes of this section and sections 6ZB and 6ZC, “affected authority”, in relation to a local service registered under section 6, means a council or a Transport Partnership created by order under section 1 of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2005 which—

(a) have functions under section 9A of the Transport Act 1968 or section 63 of this Act, and

(b) have within their area or, as the case may be, region a stopping place which would be affected by the variation or cancellation of the registration of the service by an operator.

6ZB

(1) An affected authority may disclose information received from an operator under section 6ZA only in accordance with this section.

(2) An affected authority may disclose information of the type described in section 6ZA(3)(a)—

(a) to an economic operator in connection with an invitation to submit a tender to provide a supported service to replace or supplement the service being varied or cancelled,

(b) to another affected authority,

(3) An affected authority may disclose information of the type described in section 6ZA(3)(b)—

(a) to an economic operator in connection with an invitation to submit a tender to provide a supported service to replace or supplement the service being varied or cancelled,

(b) to another affected authority.

(4) Information disclosed under subsection (3)(a) of this section—

(a) must be aggregated into an annual figure,

(b) must not be disclosed in circumstances where the affected authority have decided to assume the revenue-related risk for the supported service by keeping the revenue obtained by operating the service.

(5) An affected authority which receive information under subsection (2)(b) or (3)(b) must not disclose that information to any other person.

(6) Where an operator has provided evidence and made a request under section 6ZA(5)(b), the affected authority must—

(a) decide whether, on the basis of the evidence submitted, they are satisfied that the disclosure of some or all of the information is likely to cause damage to the commercial interests of the operator, and

(b) notify the operator of their decision.

(7) The affected authority must not disclose any information which is the subject of a request under section 6ZA(5)(b)—

(a) until they have complied with their duties under subsection (6), and

(b) where they decide that they are satisfied that disclosure of the information is likely to cause damage to the commercial interests of the operator.

(8) An affected authority who, without reasonable excuse, disclose information in contravention of this section commit an offence.

(9) An affected authority who commit an offence under subsection (8) are liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

(10) Where an offence under subsection (8) committed by an affected authority is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to the neglect on the part of, a person employed by the authority, the person as well as the authority is guilty of the offence and liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

(11) In this section—

“economic operator” means any person, public entity or group of persons or entities including any temporary association of undertakings that offers to provide local services on the market,

“supported service” means a service which is subsidised under section 9A(4) of the Transport Act 1968 or, as the case may be, section 63(5) of this Act.

6ZC

(1) Regulations under this section may make provision for the purposes of giving full effect to sections 6ZA and 6ZB, including, without limit to that generality, provision—

(a) for excluding or modifying the application of section 6ZA in such circumstances as may be specified in the regulations,

(b) about the procedures to be followed by affected authorities and operators, including the manner in which authorities are to require information to be provided,

(d) substituting a different period (or periods) for the period for the time being specified in section 6ZA(4)(b),

(e) about the form and (subject to section 6ZA(3)) content of the information that operators may be required to provide.

(2) Before making regulations under section 6ZA(2) or (5), 6ZB(2) or this section, the Scottish Ministers must consult—

(a) such persons as appear to them to be representative of operators and users of local services,

(b) each council and Transport Partnership created by order under section 1 of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2005 which have functions under section 9A of the Transport Act 1968 or section 63 of this Act, and

6K

(1) This section applies where—

(a) a bus services improvement partnership scheme made under section 3B of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 is in operation,

(b) a service standard imposed under section 3B(3)(b) of that Act has effect,

(c) an application for registration, or for variation of registration, is made under section 6 of this Act in respect of a local service to which that service standard would apply if the application were granted, and

(d) the application is one which would, but for this section, fall to be accepted.

(2) A traffic commissioner must refuse the application if—

(a) the service standard is an operational service standard, and

(b) the traffic commissioner considers that the person who would be the operator of—

(i) the service proposed to be provided, or

(ii) the service as proposed to be varied,

is unlikely to be able to comply with the service standard as regards that service.

(3) In this section, “operational service standard” is to be construed in accordance with section 3C(1)(b) of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001.

6L

(1) This section applies where—

(a) a bus services improvement partnership scheme made under section 3B of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 is in operation, and

(b) one or more service standards imposed under section 3B(3)(b) of that Act have effect.

(2) If a traffic commissioner considers that—

(a) an operational service standard imposed by the scheme applies to a service registered under section 6, and

(b) the service is not being provided in accordance with that service standard,

the traffic commissioner may cancel the registration of that service.

(3) In this section, “operational service standard” is to be construed in accordance with section 3C(1)(b) of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001.

6M

Regulations may make provision for or about appeals relating to any—

(a) decision to record a service standard as a prescribed particular under section 6(2ZA),

(b) refusal of an application by virtue of section 6K(2),

(d) decision to register a service that has a stopping place in the area to which the scheme relates, or

(e) decision not to record a service standard in relation to such a service under section 6(2ZA).

6N

(1) This section applies where—

(a) a bus services improvement partnership scheme made under section 3B of the 2001 Act (“the scheme”) is in operation, and

(b) it appears to a traffic commissioner that the local transport authority (or authorities) who made the scheme may not be complying with their obligations under it including, in particular, any duty arising under section 3F(2) or (3) of the 2001 Act.

(2) The traffic commissioner may—

(a) investigate the actions of the local transport authority (or authorities) in relation to their compliance with their obligations under the scheme,

(b) require the authority (or authorities) to provide such information as the commissioner may specify for the purposes of the investigation.

(3) A local transport authority may be required to provide the information before the end of such period as may be specified by the traffic commissioner when imposing the requirement.

(4) Following an investigation under subsection (2), the traffic commissioner must prepare and publish a report—

(a) setting out whether or not the commissioner is satisfied that the local transport authority (or authorities) are complying with their obligations under the scheme, and

(b) if the commissioner is not satisfied that the authority (or authorities) are complying with their obligations, making such recommendations as the commissioner considers appropriate, including, in particular, recommendations that the authority (or authorities) take such remedial action as may be specified in the report.

(5) Before publishing a report prepared under subsection (4), the commissioner must provide a copy of it to—

(a) the local transport authority (or authorities) who made the scheme, and

(b) each operator providing a local service with a stopping place in the area of the scheme.

(6) Where, under section 3E of the 2001 Act, the Scottish Ministers acted jointly with a local transport authority (or authorities) to make the scheme, this section applies to the Scottish Ministers as it applies to the authority (or authorities).

(7) In this section—

“2001 Act” means the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001,

“local transport authority” has the meaning given in section 82(1) of the 2001 Act.

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