Bus Services (Wales) Act 2026

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

(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).