Brussels, 16/10/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 16 October, the International Union of Public Transport (UITP) welcomed the political agreement reached during the last Transport Council on the proposal for a regulation establishing the rights of maritime or inland navigation passengers (see EUROPE 9994). The Union mainly welcomes the new definition of the scope of the regulation which, as defined by the Council, excludes from the new legislation most public transport services operating on inland waterways. While supporting the objectives of two proposals made by the European Commission last December to strengthen the rights of maritime passengers and of bus and coach passengers, the UITP fears that, once they have taken effect, the new rules will lead to confusion in the public transport service. The latter often combines several modes of transport (bus and waterway transport in Venice, or tram/metro and bus in Brussels, for example) in an integrated network often connected with regional and local transport services. The UITP considers that such networks are already covered to a sufficient extent by the local and regional authorities. In its press release, the UITP also called for urban, suburban and regional transport services to be excluded from the scope of the draft regulation concerning bus and coach passengers. According to this opinion, which is similar to that of the International Transport Union (ITU), UITP considers the local, national or regional authorities are better placed when it comes to defining the needs of public transport passengers. (A.By./transl.jl)