Brussels, 01/12/2010 (Agence Europe) - Good news for bus and coach users: the conciliation committee between the European Council and the European Parliament reached an agreement early this Wednesday morning on the draft regulation to establish the rights of passengers of buses and coaches (EUROPE 10264). This agreement must now be confirmed by the European Parliament (by a majority of votes) and the Council (by qualified majority) to allow the regulation to be definitively adopted. It will be discussed in Brussels this Thursday 2 December by the Transport Council. The compromise will be put to the vote of the plenary session of the European Parliament in February 2011. The regulation will enter into force two years after its publication in the Official Journal.
The agreement concluded this Wednesday means that we will have new rights for passengers using this kind of vehicle, explained Helen Kearns, spokesperson to the vice-president of the Commission, Siim Kallas. Essentially, it consists of assistance in the event of delay exceeding 90 minutes for travel of a total duration greater than three hours. The most important elements of this system are food and drinks, if needed, plus the right to reimbursement, compensation, to be re-transported in the event of overbooking, cancellation or delays of more than 120 minutes from the start of the journey. These are the passenger rights to be implemented for these two kinds of vehicle. They reflect the rights set in place in the aviation, rail and river transport sectors. This final act thus becomes a reality for buses and coaches.
Then comes a raft of fundamental rights which will affect bus services at local level. For example, non-discrimination against people suffering from reduced mobility, right to information for all passengers concerning travel with delays and/or cancellations and the obligation on the member states to create centres to deal with complaints. This is a very good agreement for passengers and vice-president Kallas, as it is the last piece of the jigsaw to finalise the entire framework set in place for the protection of passengers travelling in Europe, Helen Kearns concluded.
The Parliament also welcomed this “last-minute” agreement. Compensation for delays and damage to luggage, assistance for passengers with reduced mobility and the disabled, and the fact that the compensation rules will apply only to long-distance services of over 250 km (as opposed to 500 km initially called for by the Council) are central to this new regulation. The EP points out that the draft regulation proposed by the Commission in 2008 (EUROPE 9797) aimed to guarantee bus and coach passengers similar rights to those which apply to other forms of transport. Whilst taking account of the realities of the economic operators, many of which are SMEs, the MEPs did not give ground on the obligation to provide assistance and information for passengers and compensation in the event of death or physical injury. Loss of or damage to luggage will be compensated by up to €1,200, the EP goes on to stress. (G.B./transl.fl)