Procedure for consideration of application

The date of the meeting of the Department of Transport to consider applications together with particulars of the applications to be considered shall be published beforehand in three consecutive issues of the Gazette, provided that when only applications for renewals of road service permits are to be heard the date of the meeting of the Department shall be published in one issue of the Gazette. In considering an application, the Department shall have regard to the following– (a) the extent to which the proposed service is necessary or desirable in the public interests; (b) the needs of the area as a whole in which it is proposed to operate the service, including the provision of adequate, suitable and efficient transport services and the elimination of unnecessary or unremunerative services; (c) the suitability of the routes and the conditions of the roads upon which it is proposed to operate the service; that the time table is not so arranged that the provisions of the Tenth Schedule to the Act are likely to be infringed; (d) the number of vehicles to be used on the (e) that the fares to be charged are reasonable; 158 (f) that the fares are so fixed as to prevent wasteful competition with alternative means of transport on the proposed routes or any part of them; (g) any representations which may be made by persons who are already providing transport facilities along or near to the proposed routes or any part of them; (h) any representations which may be made by any interested local authority.