Glossary of existing legislative expressions
102.There are several expressions used in these Notes which are drawn from existing legislation. This paragraph sets out and explains the most common:
“local service” is defined by section 2 of the 1985 Act. While there are some exceptions, it generally refers to a service using one or more public service vehicles for the carriage of passengers by roads at separate fares;
“local transport authorities” (LTAs) are typically local authorities: see section 82(1) of the 2001 Act. The Strathclyde Passenger Transport Authority is also defined as a local transport authority. Further, a number of Transport Partnerships have had some of the functions of a local transport authority conferred upon them by virtue of orders under section 10 of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2005;
“passenger transport authorities” (PTA) were established under the Transport Act 1968. These authorities have a duty to secure the provision of public passenger transport services in their area (see section 9A of the Transport Act 1968). They also have powers to provide subsidies in support of that duty. There is only one PTA in Scotland – Strathclyde Passenger Transport Authority. However, most of their functions (including their function under section 9A) have now been transferred to the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) (a regional Transport Partnership – see below). The rest of Scotland is served by local transport authorities or regional Transport Partnerships;
“public service vehicle” (PSV) is defined by section 1 of the Public Passenger Vehicles Act 1981 and means a motor vehicle which is either (i) a vehicle adapted to carry more than 8 passengers that is used for carrying passengers for hire or reward, or (ii) a vehicle that isn’t adapted that is used for carrying passengers for hire or reward at separate fares in the course of a business of carrying passengers;
“regional Transport Partnership” refers to any of the Transport Partnerships which were established by an order made under section 1 of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2005 in respect of a particular region of Scotland. Each Transport Partnership is required to create a regional transport strategy for its area. The Transport (Scotland) Act 2005 also allows for certain local transport functions to be transferred to these Partnerships and 3 such orders have been made, transferring functions to SPT (covering the West of Scotland region), SWestrans (covering the South-west region) and ZEstrans (covering Shetland);
103.The order made in 2005(2) which created the regional Transport Partnerships originally named the region covered by SPT as the “West of Scotland” region and provided that the regional Transport Partnership for that area would be known as the “West of Scotland Transport Partnership”. However, a Transport Partnership may decide to change the name of its region by notifying the Scottish Ministers and its constituent councils and the West of Scotland Transport Partnership notified Ministers of its change of name to “Strathclyde Partnership for Transport” in early 2006;
“traffic areas” are areas established under section 3 of the Public Passenger Vehicles Act 1981. The whole of Scotland is classed as a single traffic area for the purposes of that Act;
“traffic commissioner” is an office established under section 4 of the Public Passenger Vehicles Act 1981. The Scottish traffic commissioner is a designated cross border public authority and is appointed by the Secretary of State. The commissioner has a variety of statutory enforcement functions relating to:
PSV operator licences;
registration of local services;
ticketing schemes;
the provision of information.
The Regional Transport Partnerships (Establishment, Constitution and Membership) (Scotland) Order 2005 SSI 2005/622.
