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.

Which version?
Latest available (Revised)
Original (As enacted)

Changes to legislation:

There are currently no known outstanding effects for the Bus Services (Wales) Act 2026, Section 22.

Changes to Legislation

Revised legislation carried on this site may not be fully up to date. At the current time any known changes or effects made by subsequent legislation have been applied to the text of the legislation you are viewing by the editorial team. Please see ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ for details regarding the timescales for which new effects are identified and recorded on this site.

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

Notification to be given to a traffic commissioner

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

The Welsh Ministers must—

(a)

as soon as reasonably practicable after a local bus service contract has been entered into under section 10, notify a traffic commissioner that the contract has been entered into;

(b)

as soon as reasonably practicable after a local bus service permit has been granted under section 12, notify a traffic commissioner of the grant of the permit, and the period specified in the permit under section 13(1);

(c)

as soon as reasonably practicable after a local bus service contract has terminated, whether under the terms of the contract or otherwise, notify a traffic commissioner of the termination;

(d)

as soon as reasonably practicable after a local bus service permit has been revoked or suspended under section 16, notify a traffic commissioner of the revocation or suspension and, in the case of the suspension of a permit, the period for which the suspension has effect.