Two new LibertyBus vehicles due to arrive in Jersey last month benefited from a significant tax discount, after the Treasury Minister agreed to apply early relief on vehicle tax.
Each bus will now be charged between £834 and £1,112 in Vehicle Emissions Duty (VED), down from the standard £9,921 – saving the bus operator up to around £18,000 in total.
Under current Jersey law, buses are not classified as commercial vehicles and therefore do not qualify for the lower rates of VED usually offered to low-emission commercial vehicles.
However, Treasury Minister Deputy Elaine Millar is planning to reclassify buses as commercial vehicles from January 2026 as part of the next government budget.
In the meantime, she has used her ministerial powers under the Excise Duty (Relief and Drawback) (Jersey) Order 2000 to pre-empt the law change and allow LibertyBus to import two new vehicles this March at the reduced rate.
The relief applies if the vehicles meet the Euro 5 or Euro 6 emissions standards. If a CO₂ rating is available, the VED will be just £834 per bus; if not, £1,112.
The early relief came to light in a recently-published Ministerial Decision, which was signed off by Deputy Millar in February. It said that the vehicles were due to arrive in March.
In a report setting out why the decision had been made, the Treasury Department said the move would support the Government’s wider climate and transport priorities, including the Carbon Neutral Roadmap and Sustainable Transport Policy, by encouraging the use of low-emission public transport.
The department said there would be no extra financial implications, other than the reduction in expected VED revenue.
The island’s bus contract was up for tender last year, but LibertyBus secured another 10 years, having won over Ministers with a promise of self-service ticketing and ultra-low emission, high-capacity buses due to replace older vehicles as part of the agreement.
LibertyBus also committed to a full renewal of its fleet over the life of the contract.
Later in the year, the service celebrated getting the “highest honour” in the ‘Oscars’ of the bus and coach industry.
Awarded at a ceremony at The Vox in Birmingham in November, LibertyBus was named Bus Operator of the Year from a five-strong shortlist made up of “small to medium-sized bus operators… who excel and show exemplary service in every respect”.