Bus Services (Wales) Act 2026

1 Meaning of “local bus service”

(1) For the purposes of this Act, a local bus service is a service for the carriage of passengers by road at separate fares, using one or more public service vehicles, that—

(a) meets the condition in subsection (3), and

(b) has one or more embarkation or disembarkation points in Wales.

(2) But references in this Act to a local bus service do not include references to—

(a) a section 19 service (for which see section 44(1));

(b) a Part 3 of Schedule 1 service (for which see section 44(1));

(c) an excursion or tour;

(d) a rail replacement service.

(3) A service meets the condition in this subsection if, in the case of each of its embarkation points—

(a) the next disembarkation point is under 15 miles away (when measured in a straight line), and

(b) there is no point on the route between that embarkation point and that disembarkation point that is 15 miles away, or more than 15 miles away, from either of them (when measured in a straight line).

(4) For the purposes of this section—

(a) “public service vehicle” has the meaning given in section 1 of the 1981 Act;

(b) “excursion or tour” has the meaning given in section 137(1) of the 1985 Act;

(c) a “rail replacement service” is a service for the carriage of passengers, as a substitute for a railway passenger service that is temporarily interrupted or that has been discontinued.

(5) Where a part of a non-qualifying service would meet the condition in subsection (3) if that part were a service in its own right, that part is itself to be treated as being a local bus service for the purposes of this Act other than the duty in section 5(1)(a).

(6) For the purposes of subsection (5) a “non-qualifying service” is a service (other than one within subsection (2)) for the carriage of passengers by road at separate fares, using one or more public service vehicles, which has one or more embarkation or disembarkation points in Wales, but which does not meet the condition in subsection (3).

(7) Subsection (5)(b) and (c) of section 1 of the 1981 Act (meaning of “fares”) applies for the purposes of this section.