Legislation – Bus Services (Wales) Act 2026

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Introduction

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

49 Short title

SCHEDULES

SCHEDULE MINOR AND CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENTS ETC.

Changes to legislation:

There are currently no known outstanding effects for the Bus Services (Wales) Act 2026, Section 7. Help about Changes to Legislation

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

Welsh Bus Network Plan

7Review and revision of Welsh Bus Network Plan

(1)

The Welsh Ministers must keep the Welsh Bus Network Plan under review.

(2)

The Welsh Ministers—

(a)

must make any revision to the Welsh Bus Network Plan that they consider is required to ensure that it continues to set out the key particulars referred to in section 5(2);

(b)

may make any other revision to the Welsh Bus Network Plan that they consider appropriate.

(3)

But subsection (2)(a) does not require the Welsh Ministers to revise the Welsh Bus Network Plan to reflect any steps taken in respect of a local bus service that would (but for this subsection) require revision to the Plan, if the Welsh Ministers consider that the period for which those steps will have effect will not exceed 14 days.

(4)

In considering whether to revise the Welsh Bus Network Plan and the nature of any revision, the Welsh Ministers must have regard to each of the following—

(a)

the Wales Transport Strategy;

(b)

if they consider that the proposed revision may affect any part of the area of a corporate joint committee established by regulations made under Part 5 of the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021, that committee’s regional transport plan having effect under section 109A of the Transport Act 2000 (c. 38);

(c)

the functions of local authorities under the Learner Travel (Wales) Measure 2008 (nawm 2).

(5)

After making any revision to the Welsh Bus Network Plan, the Welsh Ministers must as soon as reasonably practicable publish the revised Welsh Bus Network Plan.

(6)

If the Welsh Ministers make any revision to the Welsh Bus Network Plan after the most recent date on which it was laid before Senedd Cymru (either under this section or section 6) they must, within the period of 13 months beginning with the date on which the Plan was most recently laid before Senedd Cymru, lay before Senedd Cymru—

(a)

a further copy of the Welsh Bus Network Plan, and

(b)

a statement setting out the differences between that further copy of the Plan, and the preceding copy of the Plan laid before Senedd Cymru.

(7)

Section 8 makes further provision about revisions to the Welsh Bus Network Plan.

Annotations:
Commencement Information

I1S. 7 not in force at Royal Assent, see s. 48(3)