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<p>The bus market in England, outside London, is deregulated and most services are
provided on a commercial basis by private operators. Where there is not enough demand
for a bus route to be commercially viable in its own right all local authorities have
powers to subsidise bus services.</p><p> </p><p>Local bus services have to be registered
with the Traffic Commissioner. When an operator wants to vary or cancel a registered
bus service it must provide relevant local authorities with a copy of the application
at least 28 days before it makes the application to the Traffic Commissioner. Once
the application has been submitted to the Traffic Commissioner the service can be
varied or cancelled after 42 days, or less in certain prescribed circumstances if
agreed by the Traffic Commissioner.</p><p> </p><p>This system provides local authorities
with time to consider the implications of a service variation or cancellation and
in particular whether they wish to procure and subsidise a replacement service.</p>
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