Bus Services (Wales) Act 2026

PART 4 E+W INFORMATION AND DATA

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

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

(1) The Welsh Ministers may give notice under this section to—

(a) a person who operates or has operated a local bus service,

(b) a person who operates or has operated a section 19 service, or

(c) a person who operates or has operated a Part 3 of Schedule 1 service,

requiring the person to provide the Welsh Ministers with information specified in the notice in relation to that service.

(2) The notice—

(a) must specify how and when the information is to be provided;

(b) may not require a person to provide information that relates to a period ending more than five years before, or to a date that is more than five years before, the date on which the notice is given.

(3) Information may not be specified in the notice unless—

(a) the Welsh Ministers consider that the information is needed for the purpose of the exercise of a relevant function, and

(b) the information is of a kind that is specified in regulations under this section.

(4) Regulations under this section may specify information about (among other things)—

(a) timetables and frequencies of service, and punctuality of services;

(b) routes and areas of operation;

(c) embarkation and disembarkation points;

(d) arrangements for determining when passengers are taken up or set down;

(e) booking journeys;

(f) fares, tickets, revenue and costs associated with services;

(g) types and numbers of journeys made;

(h) passenger numbers;

(i) vehicles and their use;

(j) facilities that are available to passengers on vehicles;

(k) connections to public passenger transport services and to section 19 services;

(l) amenities and facilities (including active travel routes and related facilities) that are available in the vicinity of embarkation and disembarkation points;

(m) workforce composition;

(n) forecasts relating to any of the above matters.

(5) The regulations—

(a) must make provision about appeals;

(b) may make provision about the disclosure of information (including, among other things, about the use of information by persons to whom it is disclosed).

(6) For the purposes of this section, a “relevant function” is—

(a) a function of the Welsh Ministers that is exercisable under Part 2 or 3;

(b) a function of the Welsh Ministers that is otherwise exercisable in respect of a local bus service contract, a local bus service permit, or a service relied on under section 19.

(7) In this Part, “active travel route” and “related facilities” have the meaning given in section 2 of the Active Travel (Wales) Act 2013 (anaw 7).

Commencement Information

I1 S. 27(3)(b)(4)(5) in force at 3.2.2026, see s. 48(1)(f)

28 Provision 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 E+W

(1) The Welsh Ministers may give notice under this section to a local authority or a community council requiring the authority or the council to provide the Welsh Ministers with information specified in the notice.

(2) The notice must specify how and when the information is to be provided.

(3) Information may not be specified in the notice unless—

(a) the Welsh Ministers consider that the information is needed for the purposes of the exercise of their functions under Part 2, and

(b) the information is of a kind that is specified in regulations under this section.

(4) Regulations under this section may specify information about (among other things)—

(a) routes;

(b) points where passengers are permitted to embark onto, and disembark from, bus services;

(c) infrastructure, including road transport and highways infrastructure;

(d) the operation of bus services;

(e) the availability of public passenger transport services and of section 19 services;

(f) amenities and facilities (including active travel routes and related facilities).

Commencement Information

I2 S. 28(3)(b)(4) in force at 3.2.2026, see s. 48(1)(g)

Information to be made available to the public E+W

29 Duty to secure that information is made available to the public E+W

(1) The Welsh Ministers must make arrangements to secure that the information specified in regulations under this section is made available to the public.

(2) Regulations under this section may specify information relating to a service within subsection (3).

(3) The services are—

(a) a local bus service;

(b) a section 19 service that is being relied upon as described in section 19;

(c) a Part 3 of Schedule 1 service that is being relied upon as described in section 19.

(4) The information that may be specified in the regulations includes information about (among other things)—

(a) timetables and frequencies of service, and punctuality of services;

(b) routes and areas of operation;

(c) embarkation points and disembarkation points;

(d) arrangements for determining when passengers are taken up or set down;

(e) booking journeys;

(f) fares and tickets;

(g) the operation of services, including (among other things)—

(i) the location of vehicles;

(ii) the time at which a service has arrived or is expected to arrive at a destination;

(h) facilities that are available to passengers on vehicles;

(i) connections to public passenger transport services and to section 19 services;

(j) amenities and facilities (including active travel routes and related facilities) that are available in the vicinity of embarkation and disembarkation points.

(5) The regulations must make provision specifying how and when the information is to be made available to the public.

Commencement Information

I3 S. 29(2)-(5) in force at 3.2.2026, see s. 48(1)(h)

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

(1) Regulations under this section may require—

(a) a person who operates a local bus service,

(b) a person who operates a section 19 service that is being relied upon as described in section 19, or

(c) a person who operates a Part 3 of Schedule 1 service that is being relied upon as described in section 19,

to provide specified information in relation to the service to the Welsh Ministers.

(2) Information may not be specified in the regulations unless the Welsh Ministers consider that the information is needed for the purpose of the duty in section 29(1).

(3) The information that may be specified in the regulations includes information about (among other things)—

(a) timetables and frequencies of service, and punctuality of services;

(b) routes and areas of operation;

(c) embarkation points and disembarkation points;

(d) arrangements for determining when passengers are taken up or set down;

(e) booking journeys;

(f) fares and tickets;

(g) the operation of services, including (among other things)—

(i) the location of vehicles;

(ii) the time at which a service has arrived or is expected to arrive at a destination;

(h) facilities that are available to passengers on vehicles;

(i) connections to public passenger transport services and to section 19 services;

(j) amenities and facilities (including active travel routes and related facilities) that are available in the vicinity of embarkation and disembarkation points.

(4) The regulations must make provision specifying how and when the information is to be provided.

Commencement Information

I4 S. 30 in force at 3.2.2026, see s. 48(1)(i)

Prospective

Legal privilege E+W

31 Provision of information: exclusion on grounds of legal privilege E+W

A requirement imposed on a person under section 27, 28 or 30 does not apply to information that the person would in legal proceedings be entitled to refuse to provide on grounds of legal privilege.

Commencement Information

I5 S. 31 not in force at Royal Assent, see s. 48(3)

Enforcement E+W

32 Enforcement of information requirements E+W

(1) If a traffic commissioner is satisfied that a person who is operating or has operated a bus service has, without reasonable excuse, failed to comply with a requirement to provide information in accordance with a notice given under section 27 or regulations made under section 30, the traffic commissioner may make one or more orders under subsection (2).

(2) The orders are—

(a) an order that the person pay, within a time specified in the order, a penalty of any amount that the traffic commissioner thinks appropriate in all the circumstances of the case, but which does not exceed the upper limit;

(b) an order of any other description prescribed in regulations.

(3) If a person fails to comply with an order under subsection (2), and the condition in subsection (5) is met in respect of the order, a traffic commissioner may make an order under this subsection ordering the person to pay, within a period specified in the order, an additional penalty.

(4) The additional penalty may be any amount that the traffic commissioner thinks appropriate in all the circumstances of the case, but must not exceed 110% of the upper limit.

(5) The condition is that either—

(a) on an appeal under section 33 against the making of the order, the order has been upheld, or

(b) the period within which an appeal under section 33 against the making of the order may be brought to the Upper Tribunal has elapsed, without an appeal having been brought.

(6) After making an order under subsection (2) or (3), the traffic commissioner must give notice to—

(a) the person with respect to whom the order has been made, and

(b) the Welsh Ministers.

(7) Except to any extent provided for in regulations under this section, an amount ordered to be paid under subsection (2) or (3) is payable to the Welsh Ministers and recoverable, on the order of a court, as if payable under a court order.

(8) Regulations under this subsection may make provision about orders under this section including provision about (among other things)—

(a) the form and content of an order;

(b) the procedure to be followed by a traffic commissioner in relation to an order.

(9) The upper limit, for the purposes of a penalty that a person is ordered to pay under this section, is—

(a) in the case of a person who, at the relevant time, was licensed to use vehicles under a PSV operator’s licence, the sum that is calculated by multiplying the total number of vehicles that the person was licensed to use under all the PSV operator’s licences held by the person at the relevant time by either—

(i) an amount specified in regulations under this sub-paragraph, or

(ii) in the absence of any amount being so specified, £550;

(b) in the case of a person who, at the relevant time, was not licensed to use vehicles under a PSV operator’s licence—

(i) an amount specified in regulations under this sub-paragraph, or

(ii) in the absence of any amount being so specified, £550.

(10) For the purposes of subsection (9), the “relevant time” is—

(a) in the case of a failure to comply with a requirement to provide information in accordance with a notice given under section 27, the time at which the notice was given;

(b) in the case of a failure to comply with a requirement to provide information in accordance with regulations made under section 30, the time at which the person failed to comply with that requirement.

Commencement Information

I6 S. 32(2)(b)(8)(9)(a)(i)(b)(i) in force at 3.2.2026, see s. 48(1)(j)

Prospective

33 Enforcement of information requirements: appeals E+W

(1) A person with respect to whom an order has been made under subsection (2) or (3) of section 32 may appeal to the Upper Tribunal against the making of the order.

(2) On an appeal against the making of an order, the Upper Tribunal may—

(a) uphold the order;

(b) quash the order;

(c) substitute another order for the order made.

Commencement Information

I7 S. 33 not in force at Royal Assent, see s. 48(3)