Legislation – Bus Services (Wales) Act 2026

PART 1
KEY CONCEPTS AND GENERAL OBJECTIVES

1 Meaning of “local bus service”

2 Meaning of “embarkation point” and “disembarkation point”

3 Meaning of “flexible local bus service” and “standard local bus service”

4 Welsh Ministers’ duty to have regard to objectives

PART 2
FUNCTIONS OF THE WELSH MINISTERS RELATING TO LOCAL BUS SERVICES

5 Local bus services: core duties

6 Preparation of Welsh Bus Network Plan

7 Review and revision of Welsh Bus Network Plan

8 Further provision about revisions to the Welsh Bus Network Plan

9 Revision of Welsh Bus Network Plan: local authority duties

10 Local bus service contracts

11 Power to make supplementary provision about local bus service contracts

12 Local bus service permits

13 Period for which local bus service permit has effect

14 Conditions attached to local bus service permits

15 Applications for local bus service permits

16 Revocation and suspension of local bus service permits

17 Local bus service permits: appeals

18 Provision of local bus services by the Welsh Ministers

19 Reliance on community bus services and certain other services for the purposes of the section 5(1)(c) duty

20 Cross-border services and the duty to secure the provision of services

21 Report on progress towards section 4 objectives

22 Notification to be given to traffic commissioner of certain matters relating to local bus service contracts and permits

PART 3
RESTRICTION ON PROVIDING LOCAL BUS SERVICES

23 Restriction on providing local bus services

24 Duty on Welsh Ministers to inform traffic commissioner of any breach of the restriction

25 Enforcement of the restriction

26 Enforcement of restriction: appeals

PART 4
INFORMATION AND DATA

27 Provision of information to the Welsh Ministers by current and former operators for the purposes of functions under Part 2 or 3

28 Provision of information about infrastructure and certain other matters to the Welsh Ministers by local authorities and community councils for the purposes of functions under Part 2

29 Duty to secure that information is made available to the public

30 Provision of information to the Welsh Ministers for the purposes of section 29

31 Provision of information: exclusion on grounds of legal privilege

32 Enforcement of information requirements

33 Enforcement of information requirements: appeals

PART 5
LOCAL AUTHORITY POWERS AND DUTIES

34 Provision of bus services by local authorities: removal of restriction

35 Removal of duty to secure local bus services

36 Financial assistance in connection with local bus services

PART 6
MISCELLANEOUS AND GENERAL

37 Application of TUPE

38 Transport Act 1985: removal of requirements relating to registration

39 Transport Act 1985: existing registration etc. ceasing to have effect

40 Restriction on the power to secure the provision of public passenger transport services under section 7 of the Transport (Wales) Act 2006

41 Transport Act 2000: removal of certain local authority schemes

42 Regulations under this Act

43 Giving notices etc.

44 General interpretation

45 Index of defined terms

46 Power to make consequential, transitional etc. provision

47 Minor and consequential amendments

48 Coming into force

SCHEDULES

SCHEDULE MINOR AND CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENTS ETC.

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Latest available (Revised)
Original (As enacted)

Changes to legislation:

There are currently no known outstanding effects for the Bus Services (Wales) Act 2026, Section 1.

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PART 1KEY CONCEPTS AND GENERAL OBJECTIVES

Key concepts

1Meaning of “local bus service”

(1)

For the purposes of this Act, a local bus service is a service for the carriage of passengers by road at separate fares, using one or more public service vehicles, that—

(a)

meets the condition in subsection (3), and

(b)

has one or more embarkation or disembarkation points in Wales.

(2)

But references in this Act to a local bus service do not include references to—

(a)

a section 19 service (for which see section 44(1));

(b)

a Part 3 of Schedule 1 service (for which see section 44(1));

(c)

an excursion or tour;

(d)

a rail replacement service.

(3)

A service meets the condition in this subsection if, in the case of each of its embarkation points—

(a)

the next disembarkation point is under 15 miles away (when measured in a straight line), and

(b)

there is no point on the route between that embarkation point and that disembarkation point that is 15 miles away, or more than 15 miles away, from either of them (when measured in a straight line).

(4)

For the purposes of this section—

(a)

“public service vehicle” has the meaning given in section 1 of the 1981 Act;

(b)

“excursion or tour” has the meaning given in section 137(1) of the 1985 Act;

(c)

a “rail replacement service” is a service for the carriage of passengers, as a substitute for a railway passenger service that is temporarily interrupted or that has been discontinued.

(5)

Where a part of a non-qualifying service would meet the condition in subsection (3) if that part were a service in its own right, that part is itself to be treated as being a local bus service for the purposes of this Act other than the duty in section 5(1)(a).

(6)

For the purposes of subsection (5) a “non-qualifying service” is a service (other than one within subsection (2)) for the carriage of passengers by road at separate fares, using one or more public service vehicles, which has one or more embarkation or disembarkation points in Wales, but which does not meet the condition in subsection (3).

(7)

Subsection (5)(b) and (c) of section 1 of the 1981 Act (meaning of “fares”) applies for the purposes of this section.