Public Transportation Board Act 1951

1 Interpretation

2 Public Transportation Board established

3 Board may appoint offi cers and servants

4 Minister may give general directions to Board

5 Board to operate Govern ment bus services

5A Borrowing powers of Board

5B Guarantee by Government

5C Board to meet expenses out of revenue

6 Bus-stops

7 Board may advertise in side Government buses

8 Board to publish timeta bles

9 Board may make regula tions

10 Offences under regula tions

11 Parliamentary scrutiny of regulations

12 Damage to signs at bus-stops

13 Offences against regula tions

14 Transitional [omitted]

[21 July 1951]

[preamble and words of enactment omitted]

Interpretation

1 (1) In this Act—

"bus-stop" has the meaning assigned to it by section 6;

"Government omnibus" means an omnibus operated under the authority of this Act by or on behalf of the Government of Bermuda;

"the Minister" means the Minister of Transport;

"omnibus" means an omnibus within the meaning of the Motor Car Act 1951 [title 21 item 4]

"the Public Transportation Board" or "the Board" means the Public Transportation Board established under this Act.

(2) Nothing in this Act shall be construed so as to derogate or abridge any provision of the Road Traffic Act 1947 [title 21 item 3], or of the Motor Car Act 1951.

Public Transportation Board established

2 (1) For the purposes of this Act there shall be established a board of persons to be called the Public Transportation Board who, sub ject to any general directions given by the Minister under section 4, shall have the powers and discharge the duties conferred or imposed upon the Public Transportation Board by or under this or any other Act.

(2) The Board shall consist of not less than five and not more than eleven persons, each of whom shall be appointed by the Governor and shall hold office during the Governor's pleasure.

(3) The Board shall be a body corporate under the name of The Public Transportation Board" with the exclusive right to use that name in Bermuda, and with perpetual succession under that name, and with power to sue and liability to be sued in their corporate capacity by that name in all courts, and with power to have and use a common seal and to renew or vary the seal at pleasure.

(4) There shall be a Chairman and a Deputy Chairman of the Board each of whom shall be appointed by the Governor from among the members of the Board and shall hold office (as such) during the Gover nor's pleasure.

(5) If at any meeting of the Board the Chairman is absent, the Deputy Chairman shall preside over that meeting, and if both the Chairman and Deputy Chairman are absent the Ministers present shall elect one of their number to act as chairman at that meeting.

(6) A moiety or majority of the members of the Board in Bermuda at the date of any meeting shall form a quorum thereat.

(7) Every question or matter to be determined by the Board at any meeting shall be decided by a majority of the votes of the Ministers present and voting on the question or matter:

Provided that in the event of an equal division of votes the chairman of the meeting may, if he thinks fit, give a second or casting vote.

(8) Subject to the foregoing provisions of this section, the Board shall have the power to regulate their own procedure.

(9) Fees shall be paid to members of the Board in accordance the provisions of the Government Authorities (Fees) Act 1971 [title 14 item 6].

(10) In the exercise of the powers conferred upon him by this section Governor shall act on the advice of the Minister.

Board may appoint officers and servants

3 Subject to the appropriation by the Legislature of the requisite funds, the Board may appoint such officers or servants of the Board on such terms and conditions of service as the Minister may think neces sary for the purpose of the proper exercise or discharge of the functions of the Board.

Minister may give general directions to Board

4 (1) The Minister may, after consultation with the Board, give to the Board directions of a general character as to the exercise and per formance by the Board of their functions in relation to matters which ap pear to him to affect the public interest, and the Board shall give effect to such directions.

(2) The Board shall furnish the Minister with such returns, ac counts and other information with respect to the exercise and perfor mance by them of their functions as he may from time to time require.

(3) Without prejudice to subsection (2), the Board shall, as soon as possible after the end of each financial year of the Board, make to the Minister a report on the exercise and performance by them of their functions during the then last preceding financial year and on their pol icy and programme, and the Minister shall lay a copy of every such re port before each House of the Legislature.

(4) The report for any year made under subsection (3) shall set out any directions given by the Minister during the year and shall in clude a statement setting out the scales of salaries and wages paid to the officers and servants of the Board who are not established officers.

Board to operate Government bus services

5 (1) The Public Transportation Board shall be charged with the duty of operating on the roads of Bermuda omnibuses owned by, or the time being in the possession or under the control of, the Government and shall have the control and management of all matters connected with the operation of such omnibuses.

(2) The Board shall institute and maintain such omnibus ser vices as appear to them to be desirable for providing means of public transportation within Bermuda.

(3) The Board may, to such extent as they consider desirable, operate Government omnibuses for purposes other than the provision of public transport, and, in connection with the operation of Government omnibuses for any such purposes, may make such charges, being charges for the hire of any Government omnibus or charges for each passenger carried thereon, as they may deem appropriate.

Borrowing powers of Board

5A (1) The Board may, with the approval of the Minister of Finance and subject to such conditions as he may determine, borrow moneys to finance capital projects undertaken in discharge of their functions under this Act.

(2) The Board shall not borrow so as to have outstanding at any one time in respect of moneys borrowed an aggregate amount ex ceeding $2,000,000.

Guarantee by Government

5B (1) The Government may guarantee, by undertaking of the Minister of Finance, in such manner and on such conditions as he thinks fit, the payment of the principal and interest on any borrowings of the Board pursuant to the powers conferred by section 5A.

(2) Any sums required by the Government for fulfilling any guarantee with respect to borrowings of the Board are hereby charged on the Consolidated Fund.

(3) As soon as may be practicable after any guarantee is given under this section, the Minister of Finance shall lay before both Houses of the Legislature a statement of the guarantee so given.

Board to meet expenses out of revenue

5C So far as is practicable, the Board shall administer the Public Transportation Department and shall levy such rents, fees, fares and other charges for services rendered by the Department as, together with such funds as may be appropriated by the Legislature for the purposes of public transportation, will result in the revenue of the Board being suffi cient, taking one year with another, to meet the expenditure and

liabili ties of the Board, including allocations to reserve for replacement of plant and provision for depreciation of assets.

Bus-stops

6 (1) The Board may designate places on omnibus routes (which places are hereinafter in this Act referred to as "bus-stops") as stopping places for Government omnibuses:

Provided that with respect to the location of bus-stops outside a municipal area the Board shall consult with the Minister and with re spect to the location of bus-stops within a municipal area the Board shall consult with the appropriate municipal corporation.

(2) The Board may place, erect or mark, on any land at or near any bus-stop, notices for indicating the position of the bus-stop and for giving information of use or interest to persons with respect to omnibus services maintained by the Board or with respect to places in the vicinity of the bus-stop.

(3) The Board may by notification in writing require the owner or occupier of any land to cut branches of trees or cut or remove any vegetation which obscures or is likely to damage any notice placed, erected or marked by the Board under the authority of this section; and if any person fails, within the time specified in the notification, to comply with any such requirement, the Board, or any person duly authorized by them in that behalf, may carry out such cutting or removal as aforesaid.

(4) Any officer of the Board, or other person duly authorized by the Board in that behalf, may enter on any land near to or adjoining a bus-stop—

(a) for the purpose of exercising any power conferred upon the Board by the foregoing provisions of this section;

(b) for the purpose of replacing, repairing or maintaining any notice which has been removed, damaged or de faced, being a notice which has been placed, erected, or marked, under the authority of this section:

Provided that, when practicable, the Board shall give the owner or occupier of the land not less than three days' notice of their intention for any person to exercise the power of entry conferred upon him by this subsection.

(5) In this section "municipal corporation" means the Corpora tion of Hamilton or the Corporation of St. George's; and "municipal" shall be construed accordingly.

Board may advertise inside Government buses

7 Notwithstanding anything in any Act or provision of law but subject to any general or special directions given to the Board by the Minister, it shall be lawful for the Board to exhibit advertisements inside any Government omnibus.

Board to publish timetables

8 The Board shall cause to be published from time to time in the Gazette and in at least one other newspaper—

(a) tables of the fares, dues and charges levied by the Board in respect of omnibus services maintained by the Board;

(b) time-tables of such omnibus services;

and shall from time to time cause such tables and time-tables as afore said to be printed in convenient form, and shall supply printed copies of such tables and time-tables free of charge to persons applying therefor.

Board may make regulations

9 The Board may make regulations for administering the provi sions of this Act and for giving effect to its purposes; and without preju dice to the generality of the power conferred upon the Board by the fore going provisions of this section, the Board may make regulations—

(a) for prescribing the conditions under which Government omnibuses may ply for hire or be made available for hire;

(b) for prescribing the fares that may be charged for the car riage of passengers and their luggage or other articles, or animals belonging to passengers, in Government om nibuses;

(c) with respect to the safe custody and re-delivery or dis posal of any property accidentally left in Government omnibuses and for fixing the charges to be made in re spect thereof;

(d) for regulating the conduct of persons carried as passen gers in Government omnibuses;

(e) for regulating the conduct of persons who are waiting at bus-stops to board Government omnibuses.

Offences under regulations

10 Regulations made under this Act may provide for the punish ment of persons guilty of offences against the regulations so, however, that any such punishment shall not exceed a fine of $252.

Parliamentary scrutiny of regulations

11 (1) The negative resolution procedure shall apply to regulations made under section 9 other than those made under section 9(b) which shall be subject to affirmative resolution procedure.

(2) Regulations made by the Board under this Act shall not be inconsistent with any provision of this Act or of the Road Traffic Act 1947 [title 21 item 3], or of the Motor Car Act 1951 [title 21 item 4], or of any regulations made under that Act.

(3) [omitted] [covered by Interpretation Act 1951 section 35]

Damage to signs at bus-stops

12 Any person, other than a person authorized by the Board to do so, who wilfully removes, damages, defaces or obscures any notice placed, erected or marked under the authority of section 6, commits an offence against this Act:

Punishment on summary conviction: a fine of $420.

Offences against regulations

13 (1) Any person who contravenes any regulation made under this Act, or any order, direction or requirement lawfully given or imposed under the authority of any such regulation, commits an offence against that regulation:

Provided that where a person engaged or employed in the ad ministration of the provisions of any such regulation omits to perform any duty imposed on him as such by that regulation the omission shall not constitute an offence against the regulation.

(2) Offences against regulations made under this Act shall be prosecuted before a court of summary jurisdiction.

Transitional

14 [omitted]

[The Act, originally of limited duration, was continued in force indefinitely by 1962:130]

[The Act was brought into operation on 28 July 1951 by notice published in Gazette No. 30 of 1951]

[Amended by

Bermuda Consolidated Legislation

Public Transportation Board Act 1951