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 4.

Changes to Legislation

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PART 1KEY CONCEPTS AND GENERAL OBJECTIVES

Objectives

4Welsh Ministers’ duty to have regard to objectives

(1)

In exercising any function under this Act, the Welsh Ministers must have regard to the following objectives.

(2)

The first objective is to promote the use of local bus services.

(3)

The second objective is continuously to improve the reliability, safety, affordability and accessibility of local bus services.

(4)

The third objective is to work towards increasing the availability of local bus services.

(5)

The fourth objective is to work towards achieving an integrated transport system.

(6)

The fifth objective is to facilitate passenger journeys that involve using more than one local bus service.

(7)

The sixth objective is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and waste from road transport.

(8)

The seventh objective is to facilitate access by passengers using local bus services to places where education, training, health services or social care services are provided.

(9)

The eighth objective is to work towards removing or reducing barriers that disincentivise the use of local bus services.

(10)

In this section—

(a)

“education” includes higher education;

(b)

“greenhouse gas” has the same meaning as in Part 2 of the Environment (Wales) Act 2016 (anaw 3);

(c)

“health services” means services provided under section 3 of the National Health Service (Wales) Act 2006 (c. 42) (including services regarded for the purposes of the duty in subsection (1) of that section as being provided under that duty);

(d)

“social care services” means services that are treated as being regulated services for the purposes of the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016 (anaw 2).