Concessionary Bus Travel Bill [HL]

House of Lords

Session 2006 - 07
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Other Bills before Parliament

Concessionary Bus Travel Bill [HL]

Concessionary Bus Travel Bill [HL]
1

A
Bill
To
Make provision about travel concessions; and for connected purposes.
Be it enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and
consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present
Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
National concession: journeys not beginning on London bus network
1
The national concession
For section 145 of the Transport Act 2000 (c. 38) (mandatory concessions
outside Greater London) and the heading before the section substitute—
“Mandatory travel concessions for journeys not beginning on the London bus network
5
145A
England: mandatory concessions for journeys not beginning on the
London bus network
(1)
Any person to whom a current statutory travel concession permit has
been issued and who travels on an eligible journey on an eligible
service is entitled, on production of the permit, to a concession
10
consisting of a waiver of the fare for the journey by the operator of the
service.
(2)
In subsection (1) “eligible journey” means a journey on one bus (in one
direction) which—
(a)
is between places in England,
15
(b)
begins at a relevant time, and
(c)
is not one to which section 242(8) of the Greater London
Authority Act 1999 (journeys beginning on the London bus
network) applies.
(3)
In this section “statutory travel concession permit” means—
20
(a)
a permit issued pursuant to subsection (4),
(b)
a permit issued by a London authority relating to the travel
concession specified in section 242(8) and (8A) of the Greater

HL Bill 13 54/2

Concessionary Bus Travel Bill [HL]
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London Authority Act 1999 (travel concessions on journeys
beginning on the London bus network etc), or
(c)
a permit issued by a London authority pursuant to paragraph
4(2) of Schedule 16 to that Act (free travel scheme in Greater
London).
5
(4)
A travel concession authority in England other than a London authority
must, on an application made to it by any person who appears to the
authority to be an elderly or disabled person whose sole or principal
residence is in the authority’s area, issue to the person free of charge a
permit indicating that he is entitled to the concession specified in
10
subsection (1).
(5)
A permit issued pursuant to subsection (4) must be issued in such form
and for such period—
(a)
as may be specified in regulations made by the Secretary of
State, and
15
(b)
subject to that, as the authority issuing the permit considers
appropriate.
(6)
The Secretary of State may issue guidance to travel concession
authorities in England to which they must have regard in determining
for the purposes of subsection (4) whether a person is a disabled
20
person.
(7)
Before issuing guidance under subsection (6) the Secretary of State shall
consult—
(a)
the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee,
(b)
associations representative of travel concession authorities, and
25
(c)
such other persons as he thinks fit.
(8)
The Secretary of State may issue guidance to travel concession
authorities in England to which they must have regard in determining
for the purposes of subsection (4) whether a person has his sole or
principal residence in an authority’s area.
30
(9)
A person entitled to be issued with a statutory travel concession permit
by a travel concession authority under subsection (4) may agree with
the authority that he is not to be entitled to—
(a)
the concession specified in subsection (1), and
(b)
the concession provided by virtue of section 242(8) of, or
35
paragraph A1 of Schedule 16 to, the Greater London Authority
Act 1999,

for a period in return for being entitled during that period to receive
travel concessions under a scheme under section 93 of the Transport
Act 1985 to which the authority is a party (if the scheme provides that
40
a person may not receive travel concessions under the scheme unless he
so agrees).
(10)
The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision about
agreements within subsection (9).
(11)
The regulations may in particular make provision—
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(a)
requiring the serving of notices before an agreement is made,
(b)
about the form of agreements, and

Concessionary Bus Travel Bill [HL]
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(c)
as to the period for which a person may agree not to be entitled
to the concessions mentioned in subsection (9)(a) and (b).”
2
The national concession: supplementary
(1)
Amend section 146 of the 2000 Act (mandatory concessions: supplementary) as
follows.
5
(2)
After the definition of “a half-price travel concession” insert—
““London authority” means a London borough council or the
Common Council of the City of London,”.
(3)
In the definition of “travel concession authority”—
(a)
after paragraph (b) insert—
10
“(ba)
a London authority,”;
(b)
after paragraph (c) insert—
“(ca)
the Council of the Isles of Scilly, or”.
3
Reimbursement of operators
(1)
Amend section 149 of the 2000 Act (reimbursement of operators) as follows.
15
(2)
For subsection (1) substitute—
“(1)
Where—
(a)
an operator provides concessions under section 145A(1) in
respect of eligible journeys beginning in the area of a travel
concession authority in England, or
20
(b)
an operator provides concessions under section 145B(1) for
persons who reside in the area of a travel concession authority
in Wales,

the authority shall reimburse the operator for providing the
concessions.”
25
(3)
In subsection (2)(a), for “for persons who reside in their area, or” substitute—
“(i)
in respect of eligible journeys beginning in the
authority’s area (if the authority is in England), or
(ii)
for persons who reside in the authority’s area (if the
authority is in Wales), or”.
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National concession: journeys beginning on London bus network
4
The national concession: journeys beginning on London bus network
(1)
Amend section 240 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 (c. 29) (travel
concessions on journeys in and around Greater London) as follows.
(2)
In subsection (5)—
35
(a)
for “appearing to the authority to be persons—” substitute “—
(a)
appearing to the authority to have their sole or principal
residence in the authority’s area and to be persons—”;
(b)
renumber paragraphs (a) to (i) as sub-paragraphs (i) to (ix) of
paragraph (a);
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Concessionary Bus Travel Bill [HL]
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(c)
at the end of the subsection insert “; or
(b)
to whom a current statutory travel concession permit
has been issued under section 145A(4) of the Transport
Act 2000.”
(3)
In subsection (5A), for “(5)(b) to (i)” substitute “(5)(a)(ii) to (ix)”.
5
(4)
After subsection (5B) insert—
“(5C)
The Secretary of State may issue guidance to local authorities to which
they must have regard in determining for the purposes of this Chapter
whether a person has his sole or principal residence in an authority’s
area.”
10
5
Reserve free travel scheme
(1)
Amend section 241 of the 1999 Act (reserve free travel scheme for London
residents) as follows.
(2)
In subsection (1)—
(a)
in the opening words, omit “for London residents”;
15
(b)
in the closing words, after “are provided for” insert “all eligible
England residents and that additional travel concessions are provided
for”.
(3)
In subsection (2), after “apply to” insert “certain eligible England residents or”.
(4)
In subsection (3), after “travel concessions for” insert “eligible England
20
residents and the additional travel concessions for”.
(5)
For subsection (4) substitute—
“(4)
In this Chapter—
“eligible England residents” means—
(a)
persons to whom a current statutory travel concession
25
permit has been issued under section 145A(4) of the
Transport Act 2000, and
(b)
eligible London residents;
“eligible London residents” means persons whose sole or
principal residence is in Greater London and who are eligible in
30
accordance with section 240(5)(a) above to receive travel
concessions under arrangements under subsection (1) of that
section.”
(6)
In the heading, omit “for London residents”.
(7)
Schedule 1 contains amendments of Schedule 16 to the 1999 Act (the London
35
free travel scheme).
6
Requirements as to scope
(1)
Amend section 242 of the 1999 Act (requirements as to scope) as follows.
(2)
In subsection (1)—
(a)
in the opening words, omit “for London residents”;
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Concessionary Bus Travel Bill [HL]
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(b)
for paragraph (b) and the word “and” before it substitute—
“(b)
for the grant to all eligible England residents of the
travel concession specified in subsection (8) below; and
(c)
for the grant to all eligible London residents of the
additional travel concession specified in subsection (8A)
5
below.”
(3)
In subsection (7), for “paragraphs of section 240(5)” substitute “sub-paragraphs
of section 240(5)(a)”.
(4)
For subsection (8) substitute—
“(8)
The travel concession which must be granted for all eligible England
10
residents is a waiver of the fare for each journey beginning on the
London bus network—
(a)
at any time on a Saturday or Sunday or on any day which is a
bank holiday in England and Wales under the Banking and
Financial Dealings Act 1971; or
15
(b)
in the period from 9.30 am to 11.00 pm on any other day,

(whether or not the journey ends on that network).
(8A)
The additional travel concession which must be granted for all eligible
London residents is a waiver of the fare for each journey which is on the
London bus network and which begins—
20
(a)
in the period from midnight to 4.30 am, or
(b)
in the period from 11.00 pm to midnight,

on any day other than one mentioned in subsection (8)(a) above.
(8B)
In subsections (8) and (8A) above “journey” means a journey on one bus
(in one direction).”
25
(5)
Omit subsection (10).
7
Requirements as to uniformity
(1)
Amend section 243 of the 1999 Act (requirements as to uniformity) as follows.
(2)
In subsection (1)—
(a)
in the opening words, omit “for London residents”;
30
(b)
in paragraph (b), for “issued to him in accordance with the
arrangements” substitute “—
(i)
issued in accordance with the arrangements by the London
authority in whose area the person has his sole or principal
residence (in the case of an eligible London resident), or
35
(ii)
issued pursuant to section 145A(4) of the Transport Act 2000 (in
the case of any other eligible England resident)”.
(3)
In subsection (5), after “in any form” insert “(subject to any regulations under
subsection (7) below)”.
(4)
In subsection (6), for “242(8)” substitute “242(8) and (8A)”.
40
(5)
After subsection (6) insert—
“(7)
Subject to subsection (1)(c) above, the Secretary of State may by
regulations make provision about the form and period of validity of

Concessionary Bus Travel Bill [HL]
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travel concession permits issued by a London authority relating to the
travel concession specified in section 242(8) and (8A) above.”
Power to alter national concession etc
8
Variation of scope of the national concession
(1)
The Secretary of State may by order amend Part 2 of the 2000 Act and Chapter
5
8 of Part 4 of the 1999 Act for or in connection with securing that the national
concession—
(a)
applies to any person for the time being eligible to receive travel
concessions under a scheme under section 93 of the Transport Act 1985
or to any such person of a specified description (as well as to any
10
elderly person and any disabled person),
(b)
applies to travel on any public passenger transport service or to travel
on any such service of a specified description (as well as to travel on an
eligible service and the London bus network),
(c)
in relation to any person to whom the national concession applies by
15
virtue of paragraph (a), provides for a concession not amounting to a
waiver of the fare,
(d)
in relation to any person to whom the national concession applies by
virtue of paragraph (a), applies, or does not apply, to a journey
beginning at a specified time, or
20
(e)
in relation to any elderly person or any disabled person, applies to a
journey beginning at a specified time (as well as to a journey beginning
at a relevant time).
(2)
In this section “the national concession” means the travel concession to which
certain persons whose sole or principal residence is in England are entitled—
25
(a)
under section 145A(1) of the 2000 Act, and
(b)
by virtue of section 242(8) of, or paragraph A1 of Schedule 16 to, the
1999 Act.
(3)
In this section “London bus network” has the meaning given by section 181 of
the 1999 Act.
30
(4)
Expressions used in this section and in Part 2 of the 2000 Act have the same
meaning in this section as in that Part (see sections 146 and 162 of that Act).
9
Variation of reimbursement and other administrative arrangements
(1)
The Secretary of State may by order amend Part 2 of the 2000 Act for or in
connection with securing that—
35
(a)
the obligation of travel concession authorities in England to reimburse
operators for providing concessions under section 145A(1) of that Act
is instead imposed on the Secretary of State;
(b)
the functions of travel concession authorities in England under sections
145A and 148 of that Act are instead imposed on the Secretary of State.
40
(2)
The Secretary of State may by order amend Part 2 of the 2000 Act for or in
connection with securing that—
(a)
the obligation to reimburse operators for providing concessions under
section 145A(1) of that Act, so far as imposed on a non-unitary district

Concessionary Bus Travel Bill [HL]
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council, is instead imposed on the county council for the area in which
the district is situated;
(b)
the functions of a non-unitary district council under sections 145A and
148 of that Act are instead imposed on the county council for the area
in which the district is situated.
5
(3)
The provision that may be made by an order under subsection (1)(a) includes
in particular provision—
(a)
enabling the Secretary of State to determine (rather than agree) the
amounts of reimbursement to be paid to individual operators, or to any
class of operators;
10
(b)
about calculating the amounts of reimbursement to be paid;
(c)
about how to claim reimbursement;
(d)
about appeals by operators in connection with reimbursement;
(e)
for establishing a person or body for the purpose of hearing such
appeals;
15
(f)
about consultation;
(g)
conferring power on the Secretary of State to make regulations;
(h)
repealing section 145A(9) to (11) of the 2000 Act.
(4)
The provision that may be made by an order under subsection (1)(b) includes
in particular provision repealing any of subsections (6) to (8) of section 145A of
20
the 2000 Act.
(5)
If the Secretary of State makes an order under subsection (1)(a) or (2)(a), he may
also by order amend the Transport Act 1985 (c. 67) for or in connection with
securing that—
(a)
non-unitary district councils or metropolitan district councils in
25
England cease to be local authorities for the purposes of section 93 of
that Act; or
(b)
a non-unitary district council or a metropolitan district council in
England may not establish a travel concession scheme under that
section unless they do so jointly with the county council or Passenger
30
Transport Authority for the area in which the district is situated
(whether or not the scheme is also established jointly with other local
authorities).
(6)
An order under subsection (5)(b) may include provision for or in connection
with securing that—
35
(a)
any specified function that a non-unitary district council establishing
such a scheme would, but for this paragraph, have had as an authority
responsible for administration of the scheme is instead to be exercised
by the county council concerned;
(b)
any specified function that a metropolitan district council establishing
40
such a scheme would, but for this paragraph, have had as an authority
responsible for administration of the scheme is instead to be exercised
by the Passenger Transport Executive for the area of the Passenger
Transport Authority concerned.
(7)
In this section “non-unitary district council” means a council of a non-
45
metropolitan district in England comprised in an area for which there is a
county council.