(1)If immediately before 1st January in any accounting year of London Regional Transport it appears to London Regional Transport that there are not for the time being in force arrangements under section 50(1) of this Act for travel concessions for London residents which—
(a)meet the requirements of section 53 of this Act as to scope and uniformity ; and
(b)will apply throughout the next following accounting year of London Regional Transport;
the following provisions of this section (referred to below in this section and in section 52 of this Act as the free travel scheme) shall apply to the next following accounting year.
(2)In any accounting year to which the free travel scheme applies it shall be the duty of London Regional Transport to grant, or (as the case may be) to exercise their control over any subsidiaries of theirs and their powers under Part I of this Act so as to secure that there are granted, the travel concessions for eligible London residents required by this section.
(3)In this section and sections 52 and 53 of this Act—
(a)references to eligible London residents are references to persons resident in Greater London who are eligible in accordance with section 50(7) of this Act to receive travel concessions under arrangements under subsection (1) of that section ;
(b)references to categories of such residents are references to the categories of persons so eligible mentioned in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of section 50(7);
(c)" travel concession permit" means, in relation to a travel concession under any such arrangements or under this section, a document in any form indicating that the person to whom it is issued is a person entitled in accordance with those arrangements or (as the case may be) under this section to receive the concession in question;
(d)" relevant journey " means any journey of a description within section 50(4)(a), (b) or (c) of this Act; and
(e)references to any services under the control of London Regional Transport are references to any public passenger transport services provided by London Regional Transport or any subsidiary of theirs or by any other person in pursuance of any agreement entered into by London Regional Transport by virtue of section 3(2) of this Act.
(4)The travel concession required by this section in the case of all eligible London residents in the blind persons' category is the waiver, on production of a travel concession permit issued to any such resident under section 52 of this Act, of any fare otherwise payable by the person to whom it was issued for any relevant journey on a service under the control of London Regional Transport.
(5)The travel concession required by this section in the case of all eligible London residents in any other category is the waiver, on production of such a permit, of any fare otherwise payable by the person to whom it was issued for any such journey beginning—
(a)at any time on a Saturday or Sunday or on any day which is a bank holiday in England and Wales under the [1971 c. 80.] Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 ; or
(b)in the daytime, evening or late-night period on any other day.
(6)Subject to subsection (7) below, for the purposes of paragraph (b) of subsection (5) above—
(a)the daytime period is the period from 9.30 a.m. until 6.30 p.m.;
(b)the evening period is the period from 6.30 p.m. until midnight; and
(c)the late-night period is the period from midnight until 1.00 a.m.
(7)The daytime, evening or late-night period for the purposes of subsection (5)(b) above may be altered from time to time by London Regional Transport by notice published in such manner as they think fit, specifying the new period or periods and the effective date of the alteration.
(8)A notice under subsection (7) above may not specify an effective date for the alteration of a period to which it applies falling earlier than three months after the date of publication of the notice; and before publishing any such notice London Regional Transport shall consult with all London authorities (within the meaning of section 50 of this Act) and with the Passengers' Committee.