Citation, commencement and application

1. —(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Bus Service Operators Grant (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2003 and shall come into force on 1st May 2003.

(2) These Regulations apply to England only.

Interpretation

2. In these Regulations “the 2002 Regulations” means the Bus Service Operators Grant (England) Regulations 2002( 2 ).

Amendment of the 2002 Regulations: interpretation

3. —(1) There shall be inserted into regulation 2 of the 2002 Regulations (interpretation)—

(a) at the beginning—

“ “apex fare” means, in relation to a journey, a fare which is obtained by purchasing a ticket for that journey at least seven clear days before the date of travel and which is not more than 90% of the full adult fare which would be payable on purchasing such a ticket on the day of travel; ” .;

(b) after the definition of “disabled person”—

“ “domestic coach service” means a bus service which—

(c) after the definition of “public passenger transport services”—

“ “statutory travel concession permit” has the same meaning as in section 145 of the Transport Act 2000; ” ;

Amendment of the 2002 Regulations: regulation 3

4. —(1) Regulation 3 of the 2002 Regulations (eligibility for grant) is amended as follows.

(2) In paragraph (1), at the end, there is inserted

• “ ;

  (d)

  a domestic coach service, to the extent of its travel in England, and in respect of which the conditions set out in paragraph (5) are satisfied ” .

(3) At the end, there is inserted—

“ (5) The conditions referred to in paragraph (1)(d) are that—

(a) the service provides half-price travel concessions (other than to persons travelling on an apex fare), on no fewer than 290 days per year, on no fewer than 21 days in any month except December, and on no fewer than 12 days in December (or pro rata if the service runs for part only of a year or month, the requirement being rounded down, as necessary, to the nearest whole number of days) to—

(i) persons who have attained the age of 60 years; and

(ii) any person to whom a current statutory travel concession permit has been issued, on production of the permit, or to any person who can demonstrate that he would be entitled to a statutory travel concession permit but for an agreement under section 145(6) of the Transport Act 2000;

(b) the service runs at least once per week for a period of not less than six consecutive weeks;

(c) seats on the vehicle by means of which the service is provided are normally available to members of the general public and the service is regularly used by such members;

(d) the service is operated in accordance with a timetable; and

(e) arrangements are made which afford members of the general public a reasonable opportunity to inform themselves of the existence of the service, times of its operation and the places which it serves. ” .