IRU welcomes the rapid progress made by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) towards the conclusion of OmniBUS, a global multilateral agreement on the international regular transport of passengers by coach and bus, paving the way to conclude the work in 2011.

Geneva – The International Road Transport Union (IRU) welcomes the efficient work carried out by the group of experts entrusted by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Working Party on Road Transport (SC.1) with the task of designing and proposing a revised version of the future UNECE OmniBUS Agreement to the UNECE SC.1 meeting, taking place from 29 September to 1 October 2010.

IRU Vice President and President of the IRU Passenger Transport Council, Graham Smith, said: “Thanks to the strong commitment and leadership of several key UNECE Member States, together with the continuous and efficient support of the UNECE Secretariat, a great deal of progress has been achieved over the last year, with a real possibility to finalise the work on OmniBUS in 2011.”

Priority should now be given to intensifying the work, with the participation of all Governments and Parties concerned, in order to finalise the expert work on the text of the future global OmniBUS Agreement in 2011 for adoption by the SC.1 before launching the ratification process.

Once ratified, the OmniBUS agreement is expected to considerably facilitate international bus and coach transport operations and improve the quality of services offered to passengers by:

·         harmonising the different types of authorisations required, as well as the applications and granting procedures for those authorisations;

·         reducing consultation periods for issuing authorisations;

·         harmonising controls and the duration of bilateral and transit authorisations;

·         improving services to customers at terminals;

·         offering priority treatment to international regular bus and coach services and their customers at borders.

In line with the objectives of the global Smart Move initiative to double the use of bus and coach transport, the progress made on OmniBUS is a concrete step towards achieving this goal, as it will make international bus and coach transport more attractive for users and businesses alike.

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Press contact: Juliette Ebélé, +41 22 918 27 07, press@iru.org