Bus and Taxi Policy
The Executive has policy responsibility for devolved matters relating buses and taxis. These include bus subsidy arrangements, the Bus Services provision in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001, concessionary fares policy and sponsorship of the Bus User Complaints Tribunal.
The Executive provides an annual subsidy of around £55m to the bus industry through Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG), payable to local registered services and certain community transport providers.
The purpose of the Bus Services provisions in the 2001 Act is to encourage local transport authorities to work in partnership with bus operators to deliver high quality bus services. The options available include statutory Quality Partnerships and Quality Contracts. Further information on partnership working is contained in "Quality Partnerships and Quality Contracts: a Review of Current Practices and Future Aspirations", a report published in May 2004 by the Association of Transport Co-ordinating Officers with the help and co-operation of the Confederation of Passenger Transport.
The Executive has responsibility for implementation and monitoring of the national minimum standard for concessionary travel and age equalisation of eligibility for concessionary fares. The Executive also deals with policy development on buses, taxis and concessionary fares.
In addition, the Executive has sponsorship responsibility for the Bus User Complaints Tribunal, a non-Executive NDPB which provides a statutory appeals procedure and deals with complaints relating to registered local services that have not been satisfactorily dealt with by the bus operator.