Transport Act 1978

County transport planning (England and Wales)

1 Passenger transport policies in county areas

(1) In each non-metropolitan county of England and Wales, it shall be the duty—

(a) of the county council, acting in consultation with public passenger transport service operators and district councils within the county—

(i) to develop policies which will promote the provision of a co-ordinated and efficient system of public passenger transport to meet the county's needs, and

(ii) for that purpose to take such steps as the council think appropriate for promoting the coordination, amalgamation and re-organisation of road passenger transport undertakings in the county ;

(b) of each of the district councils in the county who provide any public passenger transport service to operate the service in accordance with policies developed by the county council as mentioned in paragraph (a) above; and

(c) of public passenger transport service operators, and the county and district councils—

(i) to co-operate with one another in the exercise and performance of their respective functions for the purpose of co-ordinating public passenger transport services within the county, and

(ii) to afford to one another such information as may be reasonably required for that purpose.

(2) In this section and sections 2 and 4 below, " public passenger transport services " means all those services (whether publicly or privately operated) on which members of the public rely for getting from place to place, when not relying on private facilities of their own, including school transport but not—

(a) services provided in accordance with permits under the [1977 c. 25.] Minibus Act 1977 (carriage of passengers by bodies concerned with education, social welfare etc.); or

(b) excursions or tours within the meaning of the 1968 Act.

(3) For the purpose of such co-operation as is referred to in subsection (1)(c) above, all those mentioned in that subsection shall have power to enter into such arrangements with one another with respect to the exercise and performance of their respective functions on such terms as may appear to them to be expedient.

(4) Those who provide public passenger transport services may under subsection (3) enter into arrangements between themselves for the establishment under the Companies Acts of companies controlled (jointly or severally) by the parties to the arrangements and for—

(a) the transfer of assets to such companies ; and

(b) facilitating the voluntary transfer of employees.

(5) The council of a non-metropolitan county or non-metropolitan district may make grants towards any costs incurred by persons carrying on public passenger transport undertakings wholly or partly in the county or district, as the case may be, and may also make grants—

(a) to persons providing community bus services; and

(b) in cases where local authorities and traffic commissioners have consented, under paragraph 5 of Schedule 12 to the 1960 Act, to the advertisement of facilities as being provided under a social car scheme, to persons arranging those facilities.

(6) Where, in carrying out their duty under subsection (1)(b) above, a district council incur expenditure which they would not otherwise have incurred or receive less revenue than they would otherwise have done, the district council may, by notice to the county council, require the county council to reimburse the amount of that expenditure or of that reduction in revenue.

(7) If any amount which, in accordance with the notice under subsection (6) above, a county council are required to reimburse to a district council is not determined by agreement between those councils within 6 months of the receipt of the notice or such longer period as may be agreed between them, the amount shall be determined by an arbitrator appointed either by agreement between those councils or, in default of such agreement, by the President of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy.

2 County public transport plans

(1) Every non-metropolitan county council shall—

(a) not later than 31st March 1979, prepare and publish a public passenger transport plan for the succeeding period of 5 years ; and

(b) revise and re-publish the plan every 12 months (which means not later than 31st March in each year after 1979), relating its contents always to the next 5 years after re-publication.

(2) The plan shall contain—

(a) a review of the county's needs, and the needs of communities comprised in it, in respect of public passenger transport services, and the extent to which those needs are met by existing services (this review to be accompanied by an account of the criteria applied to determine need);

(b) a description of—

(i) the council's policies and objectives for public passenger transport, and the services and facilities they consider to be needed by the county; and

(ii) the measures proposed for securing them in the short, and also in the longer, term ;

(c) estimates of the financial resources required for the realisation of those policies and objectives, with proposals for obtaining such resources ; and

(d) an account of how far forecasts in earlier plans have been, and are being, realised as regards the availability and use of such resources.

(3) When preparing or revising the plan, and when considering from time to time the way in which they are to discharge their responsibilities under section 1 above, the council shall enter into consultations with—

(a) public passenger transport service operators in the county, or their representatives;

(b) district councils in the county ; and

(c) the following, if they or their areas may be affected by the policies described in the plan—

(i) other county councils,

(ii) the Greater London Council, and

(iii) joint planning boards set up under section 1 of the [1971 c. 78.] Town and Country Planning Act 1971.

(4) To all those mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (c) of subsection (3), and also to—

(a) the county's parish and (in Wales) community councils ; and

(b) trade unions, transport user organisations and others appearing to the county council to be especially concerned with public passenger transport matters,

there shall be afforded an opportunity of commenting on a preliminary draft of the plan, and of making representations with respect to its contents.

(5) Particulars shall be given in the plan of the county council's consultations entered into in compliance with subsection (3) and of the consideration which has been given to views expressed in the consultations.

(6) When the plan or revised plan has been published, the county council shall cause it to be made available for inspection (at all reasonable hours)—

(a) at the council offices; and

(b) at the offices of each of the district councils in the county; and

(c) at such other places as are considered suitable, having regard to the convenience of members of the public.

(7) The council shall give notice, by such means as they think expedient for bringing it to the attention of the public, about where the plans can be inspected, and as to the way in which copies of the plan (and if practicable, parts of it) can be purchased or otherwise obtained.

3 Agreements with operators

(1) A non-metropolitan county council shall from time to time, with a view to implementation of their public passenger transport plan, enter into agreements with persons carrying on public passenger transport undertakings wholly or partly in the county for the provision or retention and financing of services and facilities which are required by the plan but would not, apart from such agreements, be available.

(2) The council may enter into similar agreements with persons within section 1(5) (a) and (6) above.

(3) Agreements under subsection (1) above shall be made so as to remain in force for a period of 3 years, except in cases where, having regard to the nature of the services and facilities to be provided, a longer or shorter period is determined by the parties to be expedient.

(4) Whenever the public passenger transport plan is published or re-published, it shall include particulars of such agreements made by the council as are referred to in subsections (1) and (2) above and are then in force or to be in force during the period of 12 months immediately following.

(5) When preparing or revising their plan and deciding whether any, and if so what, agreements should be made under this section, the council may require any of the persons referred to in section 1(5) above to furnish such information concerning their services (including the cost of providing them) as is reasonably required by the council for those purposes; and—

(a) the information shall be formulated in such a manner as may be specified in the council's requirement; and

(b) the council shall, when framing the requirement, have regard to any directions given by the Secretary of State to county councils about the form and content of the information which ought to be obtained by them from persons qualifying for grant under section 1(5).

(6) Any requirement under subsection (5) above shall be complied with by the persons to whom it is addressed, subject to the council giving, and complying with, such written undertakings of confidentiality as may be requested by those persons as a condition of the information being furnished; but nothing in subsection (4) or (5) above requires or authorises the council to include anything in their plan whose disclosure may adversely affect the business interests or commercial security of any person.

4 Concessionary fare schemes

(1) All those county councils who have under this Act to prepare and publish an annual public passenger transport plan shall include in the plan, whenever it is published or re-published, the following matters relating to travel concession schemes (meaning schemes for the reduction or waiver of fares or charges on public passenger transport services in favour of special categories of persons).

(2) The matters to be included in the plan are—

(a) an account of what (if any) travel concession schemes are operative in the county or planned for early introduction, being schemes which are wholly or partly financed, or the subject of financial contribution, by the council themselves or by any of the district councils in the county;

(b) the nature and extent of the concessions available under those schemes;

(c) proposals for introducing new travel concession schemes such as are mentioned in paragraph (a) above, or for extending or improving existing schemes; and

(d) the reasons why (if it be the case) in any part of the county either no such schemes are operative or existing schemes are inadequate.