The Smart Move Workshop on Passenger Transport Terminals held in Estonia today, stressed the need for bus and coach operators to be given free access to other transport modes’ terminals in order to provide seamless multi-modal sustainable travel services to customers.

Riga – Speaking at the Smart Move Workshop on Passenger Terminals, the IRU publicly reiterated its demand for buses and coaches to have free and full access to terminal infrastructure, including that of other transport modes, to support the creation of an integrated, efficient and sustainable Europe-wide passenger transport network.

IRU Head of Passenger Transport Mr Oleg Kamberski, stressed, “Multimodal passenger transport terminals are an essential requirement in creating the truly integrated, seamless and sustainable European transport network that its citizens demand. Not only are buses and coaches routinely prevented from accessing the terminals of other modes, but in many European countries, bus and coach terminals simply do not exist. This situation is unacceptable to the millions of people that use buses and coaches every year.”

Bus and coach access to all transport terminal infrastructure is crucial to ensure an attractive door-to-door transport solution for all passengers. European citizens must enjoy a seamless collective passenger transport service, which successfully competes with the performance and flexibility of the private car if private car users are to be encouraged to use more sustainable forms of mobility.

The EU public-private Smart Move High Level Group (HLG) identified terminals as one of the key components of the collective transport chain. It advocated concrete measures for their support, such as creating an EU-wide database of coach terminals’ locations and their facilities, and to make them eligible for EU TEN-T funding.

“Multimodality will require new forms of partnership and cooperation between operators and transport modes. The European bus and coach industry stands ready to cooperate with other modes and play its full part in delivering an integrated passenger transport system. I call on other transport modes to rise to this challenge”, Mr Kamberski concluded.

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Smart Move High Level Group

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