Brussels, 26/08/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 20 August, representatives of the International Union of Public Transport (UITP) met Swedish Transport Minister Asa Toresson. They presented their point of view on more sustainable urban public transport and their opinion on the new legislation on bus and coach passengers' rights. “The current development model of cities is not viable (…). The European institutions must play a facilitating role to bring about a shift towards more sustainable urban transport patterns”, UITP President Tony Depledge states in a press release. Depledge also reiterates the sector's criticism of the draft directive on bus and coach passengers' rights, presented by the European Commission in December 2008 (see EUROPE 9797). According to UITP, the draft directive ignores the specific nature of local and regional bus passenger transport. It is for this reason that Depledge therefore suggests the Swedish EU Presidency should currently head work in this field, with a series of regular meetings on the subject. Presented during April, the draft directive aims to bring bus and coach passenger's rights into line with legislation existing for other modes of transport. Although the European Parliament was in line with the Commission's initial proposal (which aimed to cover all bus and coach transport) during examination of the text in first reading, most member stares were in favour of restricting the scope of the text (see EUROPE 9919). (A.By./transl.jl)