Brussels, 12/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission should do more to support coach transport in Europe. John Gilbert, President of Eurolines, the leading company in this field, has warned that this affordable and green transport system needs better adapted urban city infrastructure. The sector is expecting the Commission to take concrete action.
The industry has a powerful ally in the European Parliament (EP). The EPis resolutely in favour of public transport inter-modality, as was made clear by the chairman of its transport and tourism committee, Brian Simpson (S&D, United Kingdom) at an event last week (8 June).
Better infrastructure. Simpson was also keen to point out that “regions and cities have also a key role to play in supporting the development of stations that allow passengers to seamlessly transfer between coach and other public transport modes”. Gilbert stated that it was precisely the lack of infrastructure that was putting a spanner in the works of coach transport development, which needed to be better connected and well located. He argued that, “coach travel can help reduce personal car use and combined with better access to stations it will encourage intermodal transport with rail and air”.
Concrete action. Speaking on behalf of the 28 independent coach companies within the group, which connects 500 different destinations in Europe, Eurolines wants the Commission to carry out a study of facilities and terminals for coach passengers. It was also agreed that bus operators should undertake a study on how elderly people use coach services in Europe. These measures will help identify what areas can be improved, particularly for reduced mobility passengers.
Passenger rights. The issue of punctuality was not raised by the group. Yet this question remains a weakness in coach transport and reduces its passenger attractiveness. European legislation may be able to clear up matters up next year. A specific regulation on coach and bus passenger rights on long distances (more than 250 kilometres) comes into force on 1 March 2013. (MD/transl.fl)