Subsidy unlawful?
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We recently tendered for a local bus service but did not get the work, so we wrote to the county council involved to say we would continue to run our registered services on a commercial basis.
We expressed a view that the operator whose tender was accepted should not be running services close to the times of our registered service as it would appear to be contravening Section 63(5)(a) of the Transport Act 1985.
Can a service under a local bus contract be run at times close to those at which we operate a registered bus service?
A From what you say, it appears you operate a registered local service on a route or routes over which the county council intends to subsidise a service by another operator.
As you suspect, the subsidised service could be outside the terms of Section 63 of the Transport Act 1985. That section enables a council to provide service subsidies, but sub-section (5)(a) states that this power can be exercised only if the service in question would not be provided without the subsidy.
Without knowing more about the service you provide and that to be provided under the subsidy we cannot say that the council is wrong.