Bus Services (Wales) Act 2026

4 Welsh Ministers’ duty to have regard to objectives

(1) In exercising any function under this Act, the Welsh Ministers must have regard to the following objectives.

(2) The first objective is to promote the use of local bus services.

(3) The second objective is continuously to improve the reliability, safety, affordability and accessibility of local bus services.

(4) The third objective is to work towards increasing the availability of local bus services.

(5) The fourth objective is to work towards achieving an integrated transport system.

(6) The fifth objective is to facilitate passenger journeys that involve using more than one local bus service.

(7) The sixth objective is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and waste from road transport.

(8) The seventh objective is to facilitate access by passengers using local bus services to places where education, training, health services or social care services are provided.

(9) The eighth objective is to work towards removing or reducing barriers that disincentivise the use of local bus services.

(10) In this section—

(a) “education” includes higher education;

(b) “greenhouse gas” has the same meaning as in Part 2 of the Environment (Wales) Act 2016 (anaw 3);

(c) “health services” means services provided under section 3 of the National Health Service (Wales) Act 2006 (c. 42) (including services regarded for the purposes of the duty in subsection (1) of that section as being provided under that duty);

(d) “social care services” means services that are treated as being regulated services for the purposes of the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016 (anaw 2).