Modifying a route sheet that has already been issued: the two valid methods

If a detail on the route sheet changes during the service, the Spanish resolution that regulates the electronic format allows two methods: add the new data to the same PDF, with the reason for the change and keeping the old data marked as no longer valid, or generate a new PDF with all the data and keep the original. In both cases, the modified or new PDF must reach the driver. What does not count is correcting the printed copy by hand.

Here are the two methods, what happens to the QR in each, how you get it to the driver and how Bus Center handles it when you change the driver, the coach or the date of a service that has already been issued.

The two methods the resolution allows

The resolution of the Spanish Directorate-General for Road and Rail Transport (our own translation) provides that, if the data needs to be modified or updated while the service is being carried out, one of these two methods can be used:

Method	What is done	Address and QR
Modify the existing PDF	The new data and the reason for the change are added, and the old data is kept, clearly indicating that it is no longer valid.	Since the same PDF is kept, the address does not change and the QR remains valid.
Generate a new PDF	A new PDF is generated with all the data and the original file is kept so the change can be traced.	Being a different PDF, it has a new address and a different QR.

Both are valid. The practical difference lies in the QR: with the first, the driver can keep showing the same code; with the second, they need the new one. The application that generates the sheet must also record the date and time of each modification of the file, just as it records that of its creation.

What does not count: correcting the printed copy

Crossing out the paper copy and writing over it does not work. The resolution says so expressly (our own translation): if a printed copy is carried, handwritten notes on it will not be taken into account, and the only valid way to modify the route sheet is one of the two methods above.

In practice, the change is made in the office, on the file, and the correct version is delivered to the driver. If the driver finds on the road that a detail is no longer true, the thing to do is tell the office, not write it on the paper.

The correct version has to reach the driver

In both methods the resolution asks for the same thing (our own translation): the modified PDF or the new PDF must be delivered to the driver. They can carry it on their mobile or printed, but in both formats the copy must contain the QR code.

If you generate a new PDF and the driver carries a printed copy of the earlier version, that copy has a different QR. You need to give them the new one, or make sure they open it from their mobile. How that handover is organised is covered in the route sheet on the driver's mobile.

How Bus Center does it

Bus Center always uses the second method: a new version generates a new PDF with a new URL and QR, with the earlier data marked as no longer valid, and the earlier version comes off the public URL and is kept. It does not use the “same PDF, same URL” method because it would rewrite the file of the earlier version, and the version history, which is never modified, would point to a document that is no longer its own.

To issue a new version you have to say why it is changing; the program will not issue it without a reason. When it finishes, it warns that the URL and the QR have changed and that the driver must carry the new version. In their portal, the driver sees the current issued sheet, with the same link as the one in their QR.

The program also warns when the issued sheet falls out of date. If after issuing you change the driver, the bus, the date, the origin, the destination or the client's tax ID (NIF), Bus Center detects that the issued sheet no longer matches the service. And the nature of the service is not changed on an issued sheet: to change it, you cancel it or issue a new version.

If the service is cancelled after issuing

If the service is cancelled when the route sheet was already issued, in Bus Center it is cancelled, also with its reason. Cancelling takes the PDF off the public URL and keeps it. The home page sums it up like this: if it is cancelled, it stops being served and is archived, and the document is kept.

Keeping it is not a detail: the transport company has to keep the generated files for at least one year. We explain it in detail in how long to keep the route sheet.

Common changes and which details they affect

Almost all last-minute changes touch one of the details the sheet has to reflect. These are the most common:

What changes	Detail on the sheet affected
Another driver	Driver's name and NIF.
Another coach	Bus registration plate.
Another day	Date the service is carried out.
Another departure or arrival point	Origin or destination.
One more stop on a discretionary or tourist service	Intermediate stops.

A note on the time: the order asks for the date of the service, not the time. In Bus Center the document date includes the departure time, so a change of time also leaves the issued sheet out of date and the program flags it. The full list of details is in the electronic route sheet.

Sources consulted

Checked on 11 October 2026. We link to the original source so that you can consult the current text.

• Resolución de 5 de junio de 2026, de la Dirección General de Transporte por Carretera y Ferrocarril, por la que se establecen las características que deben reunir los sistemas y los documentos electrónicos de control administrativo exigidos en los transportes por carretera (texto consolidado). BOE.
• Orden FOM/1230/2013, de 31 de mayo, por la que se establecen normas de control en relación con los transportes públicos de viajeros por carretera (texto consolidado). BOE.