Transport Act 1985

118 Railways Board’s road passenger transport services. E+W+S

(1) After section 4 of the 1962 Act (Railways Board’s road services) there shall be inserted the following section—

“4A Railways Board’s road passenger transport services.

(1) Subject to this section, the Railways Board shall have power to secure the provision by other persons of services for the carriage of passengers by road where a railway service has been temporarily interrupted, or has been discontinued.

(2) The route (and stopping places) of any such service provided where a railway service has been discontinued need not correspond precisely with the route of the discontinued service (even where it is practicable to do so), so long as the service so provided broadly corresponds with the discontinued service, in terms of the localities it serves.

(3) Subsection (2) above is not to be taken as prejudicing the power of the Board under subsection (1) above to secure the provision of a service which deviates in any respect from the route of a railway service which has been interrupted or discontinued where it is not practicable for a service by road to correspond precisely to the railway service in question.

(4) Before entering into any agreement in pursuance of subsection (1) above for the provision by any other person of a service for the carriage of passengers by road in a case where a railway service has been discontinued, the Board shall invite other persons to submit tenders to provide that service for such period and on such basis as may be specified in the invitation to tender.

(5) Subsection (4) above shall not apply in relation to an agreement for the provision of such a service on a temporary basis in a case where a service for the carriage of passengers by road provided under an agreement entered into by the Board in pursuance of subsection (1) above has been temporarily interrupted.

(6) Nothing in subsection (4) above shall be read as requiring the Board to accept any tender submitted in response to an invitation to tender issued under that subsection.

(7) The Railways Board may not under this section secure the provision by any person of a service for the carriage of passengers by road provided otherwise than by means of public service vehicles or licensed taxis.

(8) The Railways Board may not themselves directly provide services for the carriage of passengers by road.

(9) In this section—

(a) “licensed taxi” means—

(i) in England and Wales, a vehicle licensed under section 37 of the Town Police Clauses Act 1847 or section 6 of the Metropolitan Public Carriage Act 1869 or under any similar enactment; and

(ii) in Scotland, a taxi licensed under section 10 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982; and

(b) “stopping place” means a point at which passengers are taken up or set down in the course of the service in question.”

(2) Section 4 of the 1962 Act shall cease to apply in relation to services for the carriage of passengers by road; and, accordingly, in that section—

(a) in subsection (1)—

(i) in paragraph (a), sub-paragraph (iii) and the words “and passengers” shall be omitted; and

(ii) in paragraph (b) (Board’s power to exercise powers conferred by the Railway Road Transport Acts of 1928), after the word “exercise” there shall be inserted the words “in relation to the carriage of goods by road”;

(b) subsection (5) (nothing in that section to authorise Board to use hackney carriages plying or standing for hire) shall be omitted; and

(c) in subsection (6) (exclusion of Board’s power to provide road transport services apart from that section) the words “or passengers” shall be omitted.