Transport Act 2000

214 Securing provision of substitute bus and taxi services

(1) The Authority may secure the provision by other persons of services for the carriage of passengers by road, by means of public service vehicles or licensed taxis or private hire vehicles, where railway services have been temporarily interrupted or discontinued.

(2) Where it is not practicable for a service by road to correspond precisely to the railway service which has been interrupted or discontinued, it may deviate from the route of that railway service.

(3) Even where it is practicable for it to do so, the route and stopping places of a service by road provided where a railway service has been discontinued need not correspond precisely with the discontinued service so long as it broadly corresponds with the discontinued service in terms of the localities it serves.

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

(5) Subsection (4)—

(a) does not apply in relation to an agreement for the provision of a service in a case where such a service provided under an agreement entered into by the Authority in pursuance of this section has been temporarily interrupted, and

(b) does not require the Authority to accept any tender submitted in response to an invitation to tender.

(6) In this section “licensed taxis or private hire vehicles” means—

(a) in England and Wales, vehicles licensed under section 37 of the [1847 c. 89.] Town Police Clauses Act 1847, section 6 of the [1869 c. 115.] Metropolitan Public Carriage Act 1869, section 48 of the [1976 c. 57.] Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 or section 7 of the [1998 c. 34.] Private Hire Vehicles (London) Act 1998 or under any similar enactment, and

(b) in Scotland, taxis or private hire cars licensed under section 10 of the [1982 c. 45.] Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982.

(7) In this section—

• “public service vehicles” has the meaning given by section 1 of the [1981 c. 14.] Public Passenger Vehicles Act 1981, and

• “stopping places”, in relation to a service, means points at which passengers are taken up or set down in the course of the service.