A basic guide to the EU bus and coach directive

courtesy of Tony Baldwinson at Buses for All (Europe)

In late October 1997 the European Commission of EU officials published a long awaited and very important document for disabled people throughout Europe and further across the world, in terms of access to public transport. This document proposes new rules for the design of buses and coaches, which are used for around 80% of public transport journeys.

Perhaps sometime in 1999 this document will become a new Europe-wide law. The European single market is now bigger than the USA, and the same type of bus and coach built for use in Europe will also be exported and sold throughout the world.

But there is a lot of detail within the document, and the process of getting it agreed is complex. This article is to help set out the basic points. All jargon is highlighted, and explained the first time it is used. Some examples used are for readers in Britain. Please feel free to adapt the points to suit other countries.

Introduction

If you have a new car, you probably know that you do not need to start getting the MOT or roadworthiness certificates for it until it is three years old.

What you might not also know is that, even as a new car, it already has to have a certificate from the Government before it can be sold to you. This certificate is called its type approval. It means that this type of car is approved for sale, and every type of car must have one. This is how the Government makes sure that cars are safe to drive.

Buses and coaches also have type approval certificates. These are more complicated than for cars. For example, they also say how many emergency exits a bus or coach must have.

Fifteen different countries, fifteen different rule books

At the moment, each of the 15 different Governments in the European Union (EU) has its own rules on deciding whether a newly designed bus or coach can have type approval within their country. So a company can build a bus and might be able to sell it only in certain countries, depending on each country's rules.

The whole purpose of the single market is that these barriers between countries should disappear to allow for free trade and movement of people. This is why the European Commission of EU officials has published what it hopes will be a single set of design rules for all 15 Governments to use. The European Commission is similar to the civil service, and has paid staff who can suggest and monitor laws across the EU. Most of its staff are in Brussels in Belgium, with a few others in Luxembourg and elsewhere.

The proposed law will allow each of the 15 Governments to keep their own method of type approval if they wish, but they cannot stop bus and coach manufacturers applying for the EU type approval. The advantage to the manufacturer is that, if the have the EU certificate, then no Government can refuse permission for a company to sell or use their bus or coach in that Government's state. So its is cheaper and simpler for companies.

This does also mean that if Government X wants to continue to let its local companies sell or use 'dodgy buses' by having slack rules, then Government X can continue to operate its system, but these 'dodgy buses' can be refused permission for sale or use by all the other Governments if they want.

So, what about access for disabled people ?

Fundamental problems

So far there seem to be two fundamental problems with the European Commission's proposal. The definition of access is not good enough, so for example it doesn't inlcude people using powered wheelchairs. And the access arrangments that are proposed do not even apply to all types of buses, nor to coaches.

Low floor buses

It has been said a number of times, but it is still worth repeating, that "low floor buses are not necessarily accessible buses". But the European Commission's proposal states that, if the floor is 15 cm (six inches) from the road, then the bus does not need to have a ramp or a lift fitted.

You will see from the following definition in the European Commission's proposal that their idea of access is very limited, and not acceptable.

"Accessibility test

The vehicle and the boarding aids shall be such that a wheelchair user being able to use normally his arms and hands and sitting on a platform 15 cm above the ground (representing a pavement) is able to board easily in the vehicle through the service doors designed for this purpose, when the relevant access controls are operated.

The requirement shall also be assumed to be met if the vehicle passes the test without any boarding aid in the case of certain low-floor buses." (page 137)

A boarding aid is something fitted to a bus to facilitate access. The usual ones are - ramps, lifts and kneeling systems.

The document produced by the European Commission of officials in 1997 was a draft Directive, and because this will eventually become a legal document, it then went to the European Parliament for its First Reading.

The European Parliament used its industry committee to consider this draft directive detail. After making a large number of amendments, the document was sent in March 1998 to what is called a plenary seesion of the European Parliament where every Member has a vote. This result was that the Members said the draft directive was too complicated, and instead of accepting it, they sent it back to the committee for simplification. In particular, they did not like the large number of annexes at the back of the draft directive. After lengthy negotiations, and a lot of lobbying the European Parliament by disabled people throughout the EU, the pleanary session did agree with a new draft directive in October 1998.

So, having passed its First Reading, the draft directive was then sent from the European Parliament to the European Council of Ministers.

The European Council of Ministers is the EU institution which brings together the 15 Governments for discussions and votes. Currently it is probably the most secretive of the European institutions. Only its voting figures are published, but not the agendas nor minutes of its various committees and working groups. There is a working group on this draft directive, and reports of its work are circulated where possible to disabled people and their organisations by various supportive agencies and campaigns.

This working group last met on 14 June 1999, and made some useful progress. They agreed that the service door must be wide enough for a wheelchair user - 90cm for a single door and 120cm for a double door. Some Governments wanted to allow for 60cm doors.

The working group has also agreed to include Class I (urban buses), Class II (inter-urban buses) and Class A (mini-buses with standing room) as vehicles in the low-floor bus category.

Another relevant point of agreement was to include visual aids (mirrors, cameras) to enable the driver to monitor who boards the vehicle from the rear doors.

Agreement has been reached to ensure these visual aids are positioned in such a way that the drive can also see children and wheelchair users boarding the vehicle. This is a safety and security feature.

Annex 7 of the proposed Directive on requirements for boarding aids has not yet been considered by the working group, and this will be critical to the access of disabled people.

After the European Council has finished discussing the draft Directive, it will then return to the European Parliament for its Second Reading. There will have to be some heavy lobbying of the European Parliament at this stage if there are still elements of the draft Directive which exclude disabled people's access to buses.

Any lobbying of the European Parliament will have to be strong, because following the recent elections, for the next five years it will be more centre-right than it was in the last five years.

The last stage will then follow, where the European Parliament and the European Council meet to reconcile their differences, or one wins and the other loses, after which the final text for the Directive is issued and becomes law.