Travel concessions
50Travel concessions on journeys in and around Greater London
(1)Subject to subsection (4) below, any local authority, or any two or more local authorities acting jointly, may enter into arrangements with London Regional Transport under which—
(a)London Regional Transport grant, or arrange with some other person for that other person to grant, such travel concessions as may be provided for by the arrangements to any persons eligible to receive them in accordance with subsection (7) below ; and
(b)that local authority (or, as the case may be, those local authorities in such proportions respectively as they may agree among themselves) reimburse the cost incurred in granting those concessions.
(2)Any London authority may contribute to any cost incurred by a local authority within the meaning of the [1955 c. 26.] Public Service Vehicles (Travel Concessions) Act 1955 in granting travel concessions under that Act.
(3)Subject to subsection (4) below, any London authority, or any two or more London authorities acting jointly, may make, with any independent transport service operator or with the Railways Board, arrangements under which—
(a)that operator or (as the case may be) the Board grant such travel concessions as may be provided for by the arrangements to any persons eligible to receive them in accordance with subsection (7) below; and
(b)that authority (or, as the case may be, those authorities in such proportions respectively as they may agree among themselves) reimburse the cost incurred in granting those concessions.
(4)The concessions that may be provided for by any arrangements under subsection (1) or (3) above are concessions on journeys—
(a)between places in Greater London ;
(b)between such places and places outside but in the vicinity of Greater London ; or
(c)between places outside but in the vicinity of Greater London.
(5)Any arrangements entered into by a local authority under subsection (1) or (3) above may include provision for the performance of functions in connection with the travel concessions in question by the local authority or local authorities concerned.
(6)Any London authority making contributions under subsection (2) above may enter into arrangements with the authority to whom those contributions are paid for the performance by that London authority of functions in connection with the travel concessions in respect of which the contributions are paid.
(7)The persons eligible to receive travel concessions under arrangements made under subsection (1) or (3) above are persons mentioned in any of the following paragraphs, or any description of such persons, that is to say—
(a)men over the age of sixty-five years and women over the age of sixty years ;
(b)blind persons, that is to say, persons so blind as to be unable to perform any work for which sight is essential;
(c)persons suffering from any disability or injury which, in the opinion of the local authority or any of the local authorities by whom the cost incurred in granting the concessions falls to be reimbursed, seriously impairs their ability to walk.
(8)In this section—
(a)" independent transport service operator" means any person operating a public service vehicle undertaking or a tramcar or railway undertaking other than—
(i)a local authority within the meaning of the Act of 1955 mentioned above ;
(ii)London Regional Transport, the Railways Board or any subsidiary of either of those authorities ; or
(iii)any person providing public passenger transport services in pursuance of an agreement entered into by London Regional Transport by virtue of section 3(2) of this Act;
and any person whose use of a motor vehicle (within the meaning of the [1981 c. 14.] Public Passenger Vehicles Act 1981) is covered by an authorisation under section 48 of that Act (use of passenger vehicles in experimental areas);
(b)" local authority " means the council of a county or district and any London authority ;
(c)" London authority " means the Greater London Council, the council of any London borough and the Common Council; and
(d)" tramcar " has the same meaning as in the Public Passenger Vehicles Act 1981.
(9)In this section and sections 51 to 53 of this Act " travel concession " means the reduction or waiver of a fare or charge either absolutely or subject to terms, limitations or conditions.
51Reserve free travel scheme for London residents
(1)If immediately before 1st January in any accounting year of London Regional Transport it appears to London Regional Transport that there are not for the time being in force arrangements under section 50(1) of this Act for travel concessions for London residents which—
(a)meet the requirements of section 53 of this Act as to scope and uniformity ; and
(b)will apply throughout the next following accounting year of London Regional Transport;
the following provisions of this section (referred to below in this section and in section 52 of this Act as the free travel scheme) shall apply to the next following accounting year.
(2)In any accounting year to which the free travel scheme applies it shall be the duty of London Regional Transport to grant, or (as the case may be) to exercise their control over any subsidiaries of theirs and their powers under Part I of this Act so as to secure that there are granted, the travel concessions for eligible London residents required by this section.
(3)In this section and sections 52 and 53 of this Act—
(a)references to eligible London residents are references to persons resident in Greater London who are eligible in accordance with section 50(7) of this Act to receive travel concessions under arrangements under subsection (1) of that section ;
(b)references to categories of such residents are references to the categories of persons so eligible mentioned in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of section 50(7);
(c)" travel concession permit" means, in relation to a travel concession under any such arrangements or under this section, a document in any form indicating that the person to whom it is issued is a person entitled in accordance with those arrangements or (as the case may be) under this section to receive the concession in question;
(d)" relevant journey " means any journey of a description within section 50(4)(a), (b) or (c) of this Act; and
(e)references to any services under the control of London Regional Transport are references to any public passenger transport services provided by London Regional Transport or any subsidiary of theirs or by any other person in pursuance of any agreement entered into by London Regional Transport by virtue of section 3(2) of this Act.
(4)The travel concession required by this section in the case of all eligible London residents in the blind persons' category is the waiver, on production of a travel concession permit issued to any such resident under section 52 of this Act, of any fare otherwise payable by the person to whom it was issued for any relevant journey on a service under the control of London Regional Transport.
(5)The travel concession required by this section in the case of all eligible London residents in any other category is the waiver, on production of such a permit, of any fare otherwise payable by the person to whom it was issued for any such journey beginning—
(a)at any time on a Saturday or Sunday or on any day which is a bank holiday in England and Wales under the [1971 c. 80.] Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 ; or
(b)in the daytime, evening or late-night period on any other day.
(6)Subject to subsection (7) below, for the purposes of paragraph (b) of subsection (5) above—
(a)the daytime period is the period from 9.30 a.m. until 6.30 p.m.;
(b)the evening period is the period from 6.30 p.m. until midnight; and
(c)the late-night period is the period from midnight until 1.00 a.m.
(7)The daytime, evening or late-night period for the purposes of subsection (5)(b) above may be altered from time to time by London Regional Transport by notice published in such manner as they think fit, specifying the new period or periods and the effective date of the alteration.
(8)A notice under subsection (7) above may not specify an effective date for the alteration of a period to which it applies falling earlier than three months after the date of publication of the notice; and before publishing any such notice London Regional Transport shall consult with all London authorities (within the meaning of section 50 of this Act) and with the Passengers' Committee.
52Supplementary provisions with respect to the free travel scheme
(1)The following provisions of this section apply for the purposes of the operation of the free travel scheme in relation to any accounting year of London Regional Transport to which the scheme applies (referred to below in this section as the relevant accounting year).
(2)As soon as the requirements for the application of the free travel scheme to the relevant accounting year are met, London Regional Transport shall notify all London borough councils and the Common Council (referred to below in this section as issuing authorities) that the scheme will apply to that accounting year.
(3)London Regional Transport shall from time to time supply to each issuing authority such travel concession permits as appear to London Regional Transport to be required by that authority for issue to eligible London residents in accordance with the following provisions of this section.
(4)Subject to subsection (5) below, an issuing authority shall issue a travel concession permit supplied by London Regional Transport under this section to any eligible London resident who applies for one and is resident in the area of that authority.
(5)The issue of such a permit by any issuing authority shall be subject to such terms, limitations or conditions as the authority may, with the approval of the Secretary of State, from time to time determine as respects any category of eligible London residents.
(6)Before 1st February in the accounting year immediately preceding the relevant accounting year London Regional Transport shall give written notification to each issuing authority of the charge to be paid to them under this section by the issuing authority, for each quarter of the relevant accounting year, in respect of a travel concession permit issued under this section to an eligible London resident of each category which is valid on the first day of that quarter.
(7)The charges payable by issuing authorities under this section—
(a)shall be fixed by London Regional Transport with a view to securing that the costs of the operation of the free travel scheme are met from the proceeds of those charges (taking one accounting year to which the scheme applies with another, where the scheme applies to two or more consecutive accounting years); and
(b)may differ for different quarters of an accounting year.
(8)The reference in subsection (7)(a) above to the costs of the operation of the free travel scheme is a reference, in relation to any accounting year of London Regional Transport taken into account in fixing any charges under that subsection, to the aggregate of—
(a)the revenue by way of fares which London Regional Transport estimate they and any subsidiaries of theirs have lost or will lose in that year in consequence of the provision of free travel under the scheme ; and
(b)any other costs which London Regional Transport have incurred or estimate that they will incur in that year in connection with providing or for the purpose of securing the provision of free travel under the scheme (including any payments London Regional Transport have made or propose to make for that purpose to any person with whom they have entered into an agreement by virtue of section 3(2) of this Act).
(9)Before the end of the first month of each quarter of the relevant accounting year, each issuing authority shall—
(a)pay to London Regional Transport, in respect of each travel concession permit issued by that authority and valid on the first day of that quarter, the charge fixed by London Regional Transport under this section for that quarter which is applicable to that permit;
(b)provide London Regional Transport with a written statement giving the particulars required by subsection (10) below with respect to the travel concession permits supplied to the authority by London Regional Transport under this section ; and
(c)if required to do so by London Regional Transport, return to London Regional Transport all such permits which have not been issued by the authority before the beginning of that quarter.
(10)The particulars required by this subsection in any statement under subsection (9)(b) above with respect to any quarter of the relevant accounting year are—
(a)the number of such permits issued to eligible London residents of each category which are valid on the first day of that quarter ;
(b)the number of such permits so issued (if any) which expired or were surrendered to the authority during the last preceding quarter ; and
(c)the number of such permits supplied for issue to eligible London residents of each category which have not been issued by the authority before the beginning of the quarter for which the statement is required.
(11)In the application of section 50(7)(c) of this Act for the purposes of the free travel scheme and this section, the reference to the opinion of the local authority or any of the local authorities there mentioned shall be read, in relation to persons resident in the area of an issuing authority, as a reference to the opinion of that authority.
(12)The annual report of London Regional Transport under section 34 of this Act with respect to the relevant accounting year shall contain a statement of—
(a)the manner in which the charges fixed under this section in respect of each quarter of that year were calculated ; and
(b)the aggregate of the amounts paid to London Regional Transport during that year by the issuing authorities under this section.
53Requirements as to scope and uniformity of arrangements for travel concessions under section 50(1)
(1)Arrangements under section 50(1) of this Act for travel concessions for London residents meet the requirements of this section as to scope if they provide for the grant of travel concessions to all eligible London residents on relevant journeys on all services under the control of London Regional Transport (subject to any terms, limitations or conditions with respect to the particular journeys on any such services on which any such concession is available to eligible London residents of any category).
(2)Arrangements under section 50(1) of this Act for travel concessions for London residents meet the requirements of this section as to uniformity if they—
(a)make the same provision, for all eligible London residents of the same category, with respect to the benefit of any travel concession granted to those residents under the arrangements and the periods during which it is available;
(b)make the enjoyment of the benefit of any travel concession granted under the arrangements conditional on the production, by any person seeking to travel under that concession, of a travel concession permit issued to him in accordance with the arrangements; and
(c)make the same provision with respect to the period of validity of all travel concession permits issued in accordance with the arrangements to eligible London residents of the same category ;
whether or not, in any other respects, the arrangements make different provision for different cases to which they apply.
(3)References in subsection (2) above to the benefit of a travel concession are references to the waiver or reduction of any fare or charge to which the arrangements in question apply, as distinct from any terms, limitations or conditions applicable to that waiver or reduction in accordance with the arrangements.
(4)Where individual arrangements under section 50(1) made between a particular local authority or local authorities and London Regional Transport apply to certain eligible London residents only, all arrangements so made shall be considered together for the purpose of determining whether subsections (1) and (2) above are satisfied.