Bus Services (Wales) Act 2026

PART 1KEY CONCEPTS AND GENERAL OBJECTIVES

1Meaning of “local bus service”

2Meaning of “embarkation point” and “disembarkation point”

3Meaning of “flexible local bus service” and “standard local bus service”

4Welsh Ministers’ duty to have regard to objectives

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

Core duties of the Welsh Ministers

5Local bus services: core duties

Welsh Bus Network Plan

6Preparation of Welsh Bus Network Plan

7Review and revision of Welsh Bus Network Plan

8Further provision about revisions to the Welsh Bus Network Plan

9Revision of Welsh Bus Network Plan: local authority duties

Local bus service contracts

10Local bus service contracts

11Power to make supplementary provision about local bus service contracts

Local bus service permits

12Local bus service permits

13Period for which local bus service permit has effect

14Conditions attached to local bus service permits

15Applications for local bus service permits

16Revocation and suspension of local bus service permits

17Local bus service permits: appeals

Local bus services provided by the Welsh Ministers

18Provision of local bus services by the Welsh Ministers

Reliance on certain services

19Reliance on community bus services and certain other services for the purposes of the section 5(1)(c) duty

Cross-border services

20Cross-border services and the duty to secure the provision of services

Reporting requirements

21Report on progress towards section 4 objectives

Notification to be given to a traffic commissioner

22Notification to be given to traffic commissioner of certain matters relating to local bus service contracts and permits

PART 3RESTRICTION ON PROVIDING LOCAL BUS SERVICES

23Restriction on providing local bus services

24Duty on Welsh Ministers to inform traffic commissioner of any breach of the restriction

25Enforcement of the restriction

26Enforcement of restriction: appeals

PART 4INFORMATION AND DATA

Provision of information to the Welsh Ministers for the purposes of exercising certain functions

27Provision of information to the Welsh Ministers by current and former operators for the purposes of functions under Part 2 or 3

28Provision 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

Information to be made available to the public

29Duty to secure that information is made available to the public

30Provision of information to the Welsh Ministers for the purposes of section 29

Legal privilege

31Provision of information: exclusion on grounds of legal privilege

32Enforcement of information requirements

33Enforcement of information requirements: appeals

PART 5LOCAL AUTHORITY POWERS AND DUTIES

34Provision of bus services by local authorities: removal of restriction

35Removal of duty to secure local bus services

36Financial assistance in connection with local bus services

PART 6MISCELLANEOUS AND GENERAL

Transfer of undertakings

37Application of TUPE

Transport Act 1985: registration of services with traffic commissioner

38Transport Act 1985: removal of requirements relating to registration

39Transport Act 1985: existing registration etc. ceasing to have effect

Welsh Ministers’ power to secure provision of public passenger transport services

40Restriction on the power to secure the provision of public passenger transport services under section 7 of the Transport (Wales) Act 2006

Transport Act 2000: local authority schemes

41Transport Act 2000: removal of certain local authority schemes

42Regulations under this Act

43Giving notices etc.

44General interpretation

45Index of defined terms

46Power to make consequential, transitional etc. provision

47Minor and consequential amendments

48Coming into force

SCHEDULEMINOR AND CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENTS ETC.

1Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 (c. 27)

2Transport Act 1985 (c. 67)

3Transport Act 2000 (c. 38)

4Local Transport Act 2008 (c. 26)

Welsh Royal arms

Bus Services (Wales) Act 2026

2026 asc 2

An Act of Senedd Cymru to make provision in connection with the regulation and provision of local bus services in Wales; and for connected purposes.

[2 February 2026]

Having been passed by Senedd Cymru and having received the assent of His Majesty, it is enacted as follows: