The Competition Act 1998 (Public Transport Ticketing Schemes Block Exemption) Order 2001

Citation, Commencement, Duration and Interpretation

3.  In this Order—

“the Act” means the Competition Act 1998;

“block exemption” means the exemption from the Chapter I prohibition arising by virtue of this Order for the category of agreements specified in this Order;

“bus service” has the meaning given in section 159(1) of the Transport Act 1968(1) but excludes a bus service which is a tourist service;

“chartered service” means a public transport service:

(a)

for which the whole capacity of the vehicle, vessel or craft supplying that service has been purchased by one or more charterers for his or their own use or for resale;

(b)

which is a journey or trip organised privately by any person acting independently of the person operating the vehicle, vessel or craft supplying that service; or

(c)

on which the passengers travel together on a journey, with or without breaks, from one or more places to one or more places and back;

“complementary services” means local public transport services which are not in competition with each other over a substantial part of the route covered by the ticket in question;

“connecting service” means a service (other than a bus service, a chartered service or a tourist service) for the carriage of passengers by road, tramway, railway, inland waterway or air which is a long distance service and which runs between—

(a)

a station or stopping place at or in the vicinity of which the relevant local public transport service stops; and

(b)

any other place;

“inland waterway” includes both natural and artificial waterways, and waterways within parts of the sea that are in the United Kingdom;

“journey” means any journey made by an individual passenger and includes a return journey;

“local public transport service” means:

(a)

a bus service; or

(b)

a scheduled public transport service (other than a bus service) using one or more vehicles or vessels for the carriage of passengers by road, railway, tramway or inland waterway at separate fares other than a long distance service, a chartered service or a tourist service;

“long distance add-on” means:

(a)

a ticket (or tickets) entitling the holder to make a journey solely on the local public transport services of any one operator;

(b)

a multi-operator travelcard; or

(c)

a through ticket,

each being purchased as an add-on to a ticket (or tickets) entitling the holder to make a particular journey on one or more connecting services;

“long distance operator” means an undertaking (other than an operator) supplying a scheduled long distance service using one or more vehicles, vessels or craft for the carriage of passengers by road, railway, tramway, inland waterway or air at separate fares other than a chartered service or a tourist service;

“long distance service” means a public transport service in relation to which (except in an emergency) one or both of the following conditions are met with respect to every passenger using the service:

(a)

the place where he is set down is fifteen miles or more, measured in a straight line, from the place where he was taken up;

(b)

some point on the route between those places is fifteen miles or more, measured in a straight line, from either of those places,

and where a public transport service consists of one or more parts with respect to which one or both of these conditions are met, and one or more parts with respect to which neither of them is met, each of those parts shall be treated as a separate public transport service;

“members of the public” means any person other than an operator, potential operator, long distance operator or potential long distance operator;

“multi-operator individual ticket” means a ticket (or tickets) entitling the holder, where a particular journey could be made on local public transport services provided by any of two or more operators, to make that journey or any part of it on whichever service the holder chooses;

“multi-operator travel card” means a ticket (or tickets) entitling the holder to make three or more journeys on three or more specified local public transport services operating on three or more routes provided that:

(a)

these routes are not substantially the same;

(b)

these local public transport services are not substantially the same; and

(c)

for each of these routes and local public transport services, the passenger usage and revenue received from the ticket and other such tickets purchased as a result of the relevant agreement, demonstrate that the ticket is not, in practice, a multi-operator individual ticket or a through ticket;

“operator” means an undertaking supplying local public transport services;

“posted price” means, where a ticket is purchased from one undertaking (the seller), a wholesale price set independently by another undertaking (“the creditor”) for the carriage of passengers bearing that ticket on the public transport services of the creditor;

“public transport ticketing scheme” has the meaning given in Article 4(2);

“the register” means the register maintained by the Director under rule 8 of the Director’s rules set out in the Schedule to the Competition Act 1998 (Director’s rules) Order 2000(2);

“short distance add-on” means a multi-operator travelcard purchased as an add-on to a ticket (or tickets) entitling the holder to make a particular journey on a local public transport service pursuant to an agreement which provides for onward travel connections for passengers on complementary services;

“stopping place” means a point at which passengers are taken up or set down in the course of a public transport service;

“through ticket” means a ticket (or tickets) entitling the holder to make a particular journey on two or more local public transport services provided that such a journey is made on complementary services;

“ticket” means evidence of a contractual right to travel;

“tourist service” means a public transport service where the price charged for that service includes payment for a live or recorded commentary about the locality being a service primarily for the benefit of tourists;

“vehicle” includes vehicles constructed or adapted to run on flanged wheels but excludes hackney carriages, taxis, cabs, hire cars and any vehicle propelled by an animal; and

“working day” means a day which is not a Saturday, Sunday or any other day on which the Office of Fair Trading is closed for business.

(1)

1968 c. 73; the definition of “bus service” in section 159(1) was substituted by the Transport Act 1985 (c. 67), section 1 and Schedule 1, paragraph 1.

(2)

S.I. 2000/293.