Procedure for local bus service registrations
The Public Service Vehicles (Registration of Local Services) (Amendment) Regulations 2018 came into effect on 24 April 2018.
The regulations, which govern the procedure for local bus service registrations in the city of York area, require bus operators to inform all local transport authorities whose area a service passes through of any changes 28 days before registering, varying or cancelling services with the Traffic Commissioner.
The regulations also require a draft of the new registration be provided to the appropriate local authorities.
A Local Authority Notification Form has been provided for local authorities to complete. Once the form has been completed and returned to the bus operator, the bus operator may apply to the Traffic Commissioner to register their service, giving a further 42 days’ notice until the service change takes effect.
Please note that there is no legal requirement for local authorities to complete the Local Authority Notification Form, in which case the bus operator must wait the full 28 days until registering their service.
When a bus operator intends to cancel or reduce the number of stops, services or days on which a service operates, local authorities have the right to request patronage data for the route over the preceding 12 month period, including:
- ticket types
- fare tables
- revenue
The bus operator has 14 days to comply with such a request. The local authority may only use this data for carrying out passenger transport functions, and may disclose the information to other bus operators either as part of a tender process or discussions regarding the adequacy of services in the affected area.
Operators may request that local authorities do not disclose information where it would damage their commercial interests and can provide evidence of this. Local authorities must consider the evidence and may not disclose it if they are satisfied that it would damage the operator’s commercial interests. Where an operator has made such a request and a local authority concludes that disclosure would not damage the operator’s commercial interests:
- any patronage figures must be aggregated for 4-week periods
- revenue figures must be aggregated for a full year
Local authorities are not granted any new powers to veto or force changes to a registration; the Traffic Commissioner retains the final say.
How the bus service registration process works in York
Bus operators must notify City of York Council (the council) 28 days before they intend to submit a registration to the Traffic Commissioner (the consultation period).
Operators must then give the Traffic Commissioner a further 42 days’ notice before the service change takes effect (the notice period).
In total, bus operators must allow at least 70 days between producing their registration and the changes coming into effect.
When notifying the council, bus operators will supply a draft copy of their registration document plus a copy of the Local Authority Notification Form with the first page (operator and service details) completed by the operator. A copy of the Local Authority Notification Form can provided on request by emailing: ebsr@york.gov.uk.
Documents should be submitted by email to: ebsr@york.gov.uk.
For commercial changes with minimal impact on the overall level of service, the council will in normal circumstances be able to complete and return the form within 14 days. However, the council cannot guarantee this timescale and operators must not assume that shorter consultation periods are possible, nor apply pressure to the council to waive any part of the statutory 28-day consultation period.
For services which cross one or more local authority boundaries, the consultation period will only be reduced if all the authorities complete and return the form before the 28 days have elapsed.
The York Enhanced Partnership will agree and publicise 6 standard change dates per calendar year following discussion between the council and all participating operators.
The council will make appropriate use of its powers to help ensure these agreed change dates are kept to. This could include reducing the 28-day consultation period to allow an operator to meet an agreed change date which is slightly less than 70 days in the future. Conversely, the council is unlikely, without very good reason, to sign off a change at less than 28 days’ notice where this would mean the change happens earlier than the next agreed change date.
View a list of the agreed change dates for the current year on the iTravel website:
Under the Enhanced Partnership Scheme, the council will print and post timetables at bus stops along the route at no additional cost for all changes which are aligned to an agreed change date. Where a change is registered for a non-agreed date, the council will pass on all costs for printing and posting the timetables to the operator responsible. The only occasions when these charges will be waived are if the change is as a result of:
- long-term roadworks or road closures
- major events
- contract changes by tendering authorities
- change dates which conflict between neighbouring EP scheme areas (applies to cross-boundary services only)
- any other urgent issue that may arise outside the operator’s reasonable control - at the sole discretion of the council
Where an operator intends to cancel or reduce the number of stops, services or days on which a service operates, the council will normally exercise its right to request patronage data over the preceding 12-month period including:
- ticket types
- fare tables
- revenue for the affected route
This data will be utilised for discussion and tender purposes only and it is the operator’s responsibility to state when providing the data whether it considers any of the information should be treated as commercially confidential.
Short notice changes
Short notice changes are still permitted, but are discouraged in most cases.
The council will only support short-notice changes where there is a risk of residents losing their bus service, or as a result of needing to divert routes due to long term roadworks or other events which could not reasonably be foreseen within the standard notice period.
Also see
Bus Service Registrations
Transport Planning Unit