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Transport (Scotland) Act 2019

Provision of services by local transport authorities

Introduction

104.The 1985 Act deregulated bus services in the UK, moving from council-run buses to an open commercial market via a transitional period. In that transitional period, the bus services that councils provided were moved over to companies owned by them, which were then largely sold off. In Scotland, only one of those companies remains in existence today: Lothian Buses Limited. Otherwise, section 66 of the 1985 Act prevents a council from providing local services themselves(3).

105.As noted in the general background section, however, under section 63 of the 1985 Act councils(4) are under a duty to secure the provision of such public transport services as they consider appropriate in order to meet any public transport requirements which they don’t think would otherwise be met by the open commercial market. Councils have a variety of tools to try to achieve this, but subsection (5) of section 63 is significant in that it enables councils to enter into agreements to provide subsidies to operators in order to secure a service.

Provision of  services by local transport authorities – section 34

106.Section 34 of the Act inserts new section 2A to the 2001 Act which enables local transport authorities to provide services for the carriage of passengers by road using vehicles requiring a PSV operator’s licence. The local transport authority must be satisfied that the provision of such services will contribute to the implementation of their relevant general policies (as defined in section 48 of the 2001 Act). The new function in section 2A is also added to the list of matters, in section 79 of the 2001 Act, which the Scottish Ministers may issue guidance in relation to the exercise of, and local transport authorities must have regard to any such guidance.

107.Subsection (2) repeals the provisions of the 1985 Act which placed a restriction on councils operating such services and which allowed for a transition of existing services out to public transport companies. However, subsection (3) provides that repealed provisions will continue to have effect in so far as is necessary for any existing services or undertaking which relies upon them.

3

There is an existing exemption to this prohibition under section 71 of the 1985 Act for small undertakings and there are a number of other provisions, such as community bus permits, under which a council can provide bus services in certain circumstances. In addition, the councils for the Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands and Western Isles are specifically exempted from the restriction in section 66 of the 1985 Act.

4

In addition, this could apply to a regional Transport Partnership which has had the functions of a council under this section conferred upon it by an order made under section 10 of the 2005 Act.

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Explanatory Notes

Text created by the Scottish Government to explain what the Act sets out to achieve and to make the Act accessible to readers who are not legally qualified. Explanatory Notes were introduced in 1999 and accompany all Acts of the Scottish Parliament except those which result from Budget Bills.

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