Transport Act 1978

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.