The united European road transport and travel industry appeals to EU Member States to give priority to practical and adapted passenger rights rules in EU bus and coach services, based on a sound impact assessment.

Brussels – Following the result of the European Parliament plenary vote on 23 April, which failed to address important industry requests, ECTAA, ETOA, UITP and the IRU*, the four associations representing the European collective passenger transport and travel business, call upon EU Member States to privilege practical and adapted passenger rights rules, in order to redress the situation resulting from the Parliamentary vote in first reading.

The united EU road transport and travel industry requests, in particular, that all urban, suburban and regional transport services must be exempted from the scope of these rules, based on the principle of subsidiarity. In many European regions and cities, these services are provided as part of integrated multimodal public transport networks and have considerable differences compared to long distance services. A modal approach as well as a differentiation between urban/suburban on the one hand and regional on the other hand – as voted by the European Parliament – does not reflect the reality and is not attractive for passengers.

The united EU road transport and travel industry also calls for a serious impact assessment of the overall cost implications resulting from the implementation of the proposed rules, in order to guarantee an informed debate before any decision is taken.

Please find attached the complete press release.