The Travel Concession Schemes Regulations 1986

Reimbursement arrangements: operators of eligible services

6.  Regulations 7 to 12 apply to the provisions to be included in reimbursement arrangements with respect to participation of operators of eligible services in a scheme.

7.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2) of this regulation, it shall be an objective (but not a duty) of an authority when formulating reimbursement arrangements for operators of eligible services to provide that such operators receive appropriate reimbursement for providing concessions to the persons eligible to receive those concessions.

(2) In paragraph (1) of this regulation “appropriate reimbursement” in relation to an operator means appropriate in the light of the total number and fares value of journeys made by persons eligible to receive concessions on the services provided by that operator.

8.—(1) The payment periods and payment days shall be specified in the reimbursement arrangements and—

(a) payment periods shall not be longer than three months; and

(b) in relation to each payment period, the payment day shall not be later than the day which is half way between the first and last days of the payment period (and, in ascertaining the payment day, no account shall be taken of half days).

(2) Each reimbursement payment shall not be less than 85% of the amount estimated by the authority to be due to the operator in respect of the relevant payment period.

(3) The balance of each reimbursement payment shall be paid, subject to any adjustments shown to be necessary in the light of information available to the authority pursuant to arrangements giving effect to these Regulations, not later than 3 months after the end of the relevant payment period.

(4) Subject to paragraph (5) of this regulation, if any such balance as is mentioned in paragraph (3) of this regulation is not paid in accordance with that paragraph, provision shall be made for the authority to pay interest (at a rate not less than the lowest rate at which the authority are able to borrow at the time) on the amount for the time being unpaid for the period beginning with the last date on which the balance should have been paid in accordance with paragraph (3) and ending with the date of actual payment.

(5) Interest shall not be payable until a scheme has been in operation for 6 months nor in respect of any period falling wholly or partly within the first 6 months of operation of a scheme.

(6) If the amount of any reimbursement payment made in accordance with paragraph (2) of this regulation in respect of any payment period exceeds the total amount of that payment found to be payable in respect of that period, provision shall be made for the authority to notify the operator in writing accordingly and may thereafter deduct the amount of the excess from the reimbursement payments due to that operator in respect of any subsequent payment period.

(7) If the circumstances described in paragraph (6) of this regulation arise in relation to a person who is no longer an operator, the authority shall notify that person accordingly and, unless he disputes the existence or amount of the excess, that person shall pay the amount of the excess to the authority within 30 days of the date of receipt of the notification.

(8) Provision may be made for any reimbursement payment due in accordance with paragraphs (2) and (3) of this regulation to be made otherwise than in accordance with this regulation in any case where an operator fails to supply information in accordance with reimbursement arrangements giving effect to these Regulations—

(a) in the case of a payment due in accordance with paragraph (2), in sufficient time to allow the authority to form a reasonable estimate of the amount of the payment; or

(b) in the case of a payment due in accordance with paragraph (3), in sufficient time to allow the authority to calculate the amount of the payment.

(9) Subject to paragraph (8) of this regulation, provision shall be made for any reimbursement payment or any part of such a payment due to an operator in respect of concessions provided during any period of 12 months commencing on a date specified in the arrangements but not paid to be paid not later than 3 months after the expiry of that period.

9.—(1) Subject to paragraph (6) of this regulation, in relation to each scheme, the authority shall adopt a standard method to be used, subject to regulation 5, in determining—

(a) the total number of the journeys made by persons eligible to receive concessions on the services of operators of eligible services participating in the scheme; and

(b) the fares value to be attributed to those journeys.

(2) The standard method shall provide for the authority to take into account any data supplied by an operator who shows that the method by which such data was derived is more accurate than the standard method.

(3) Where the standard method does not provide for the recording of all such journeys as are mentioned in paragraph (1) of this regulation, that method may provide for—

(a) the calculation of figures for the total number and fares value of those journeys by any means or combination of means which appears to the authority to be reasonable; and

(b) if necessary, the apportionment of that number and fares value between all operators of eligible services participating in the scheme.

(4) Where the amounts of reimbursement payments are estimated or calculated otherwise than by reference to a standard method which provides for the recording of all the journeys mentioned in paragraph (1)(a) of this regulation, the estimates or calculations shall be adjusted if the information upon which they were based is shown to be inaccurate in any material respect.

(5) An authority who have reason to believe that the standard method used by them is inappropriate in relation to any particular operator of eligible services participating in the relevant scheme may, at their own cost and expense, make provision for a more accurate calculation of the total number and fares value of journeys in respect of that operator.

(6) Reimbursement arrangements need not comply with this regulation in any case where the authority and the operator so agree and any one of the following conditions are satisfied—

(a) the vehicles normally used by him in providing services on which concessions are available have 8 or less seats available for fare-paying passengers;

(b) the mileage run by such vehicles is less than 150,000 miles per annum within the area covered by the scheme during the times at which concessions are available;

(c) except during the first 3 months of operation of a scheme, there has not expired a period of 3 months commencing with the date on which the operator is admitted to participation in the scheme in respect of a service or (if appropriate) becomes subject to the obligation imposed by a participation notice to provide concessions on a service.

10.  Provision shall be made for an authority to review the calculations made in accordance with the standard method not less than once in each period of 12 months that the relevant scheme is in operation.

11.—(1) For any purposes relating to the calculation of reimbursement payments for operators of eligible services an authority may divide the area covered by a scheme into such number of parts as they consider to be appropriate.

(2) When calculating such payments an authority may take into account the carrying capacity provided for passengers in different vehicles or in different classes of vehicle.

(3) Except in any case where paragraph (2) of regulation 9 has effect, and also, in relation only to sub-paragraphs (b) and (c) of this paragraph, except in relation to any operator of an eligible service whose fares for journeys on that service include a special amenity element (within the meaning of section 96(6) of the Act), calculations of fares value in relation to a particular operator of eligible services may be based on—

(a) the fares normally paid by passengers on a service or services provided by that operator;

(b) the average of all such fares; or

(c) the average of all the fares normally paid to all operators of eligible services participating in the scheme in question.

12.—(1) Provision shall be made for additional reimbursement payments pursuant to regulation 5 in any case where the operator demonstrates to the authority—

(a) that he has necessarily incurred costs additional to basic operating costs and attributable to an increase in the number or the capacity of the vehicles used in providing services on which concessions are available in order to meet the extra demand created by the availability of those concessions; and

(b) that those costs are such that they will not be met by reimbursement payments made in accordance with the standard method during the year in which the costs are incurred or during the 3 months immediately following the end of that year.

(2) A similar provision shall be made in any case where the operator demonstrates to the authority—

(a) that he has supplied any information required in accordance with reimbursement arrangements; and

(b) that in doing so he has incurred expenditure which he would not otherwise have incurred.