Traffic Commissioners: local bus service registration

These records are updated on a weekly basis, every Sunday.

Register of all registered local bus services in Great Britain as recorded on the Vehicle Operator Licensing database (VOL).

1. Operators of local bus services carried out in accordance with Section 6 of the Transport Act 1985 must register their services with a traffic commissioner in the traffic area in which the service operates.

2. To qualify as a local bus service separate fares must be charged and passengers must be able to disembark within 15 miles of the place from where they boarded the bus.

3. When registering a service the operator must provide the traffic commissioner with the registered particulars of the service. These include a description of the service type, a route description, a timetable and a map of the service route.

4. Most registrations are submitted to the traffic commissioner in paper format, although approximately 20% are provided in electronic format using the Electronic Bus Service Registration system.

5. The traffic commissioners maintain a database of all registered bus services that includes the basic registration details.

6. The attached files contain the extract from the Operator Licensing Business System in relation to live local bus service registrations. The explanatory note provides further information on the interpretation of the data.

7. Two files for each traffic area are available. One file contains the details of the current live registrations. The second file contains the details of all variations to each registration. In both cases the variation number of the registration is displayed.

8. In the shortened version it is possible that multiple lines for the registration are displayed. This is to reflect additional data, for example, where more than one local authority is named on the registration.

9. These records are updated on a weekly basis, every Sunday.

10. Please note that it is the responsibility of the operator to provide the traffic commissioner with accurate information. The data held is a reflection of the data provided to the traffic commissioner from the operator at the time of making the registration.

11. Further information on local bus services can be found in the guidebook ‘Local Bus Service Registration – Guide for Operators’ (PSV353A). There are separate guidebooks for services registered in England / Wales and Scotland.

Note: The CSV files contains a large number of rows and will need to be opened within a suitable software package.

Local bus service registrations guidance has been published on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-psv-service-registrations-psv353a