4th European Bus & Coach Forum

4^th European Bus & Coach Forum
"Facilitating International Regular Services by Bus and Coach in Europe"
Friday, 21 October 2005, 09:30 - 13:30
Meeting Centre "Gruzenberg", Kortrijk Xpo, Belgium

The event was jointly organised by the IRU and the European Conference of Ministers of Transport (ECMT) and was held within the framework of the well-known Bus & Coach exhibition BUSWORLD 2005 in Kortrijk, Belgium.

Opening session
Paul Laeremans, IRU President "Nous ne devons pas oublier non plus que de nombreux citoyens européens et touristes venant du monde entier dépendent des autobus et des autocars pour leurs déplacements. L'accroissement de la prospérité en Europe continue d'entrainer une demande accrue en matière de transport de personnes. Cette demande est toujours dominée par la voiture particulière qui représente 79% de parts de marché. Il faut donc réaliser davantage d'efforts pour que les autobus et les autocars satisfassent encore mieux à cette demande de mobilité, et ceci de manière durable."	More...
Jack Short, Secretary General, ECMT "The ECMT is very pleased to be associated with the road transport industry's reflections on how to facilitate international regular services. ECMT has contributed in the past with the ASOR Agreement and the Resolution in 1995, which led to the INTERBUS Agreement: We need to look at possible multilateral arrangements, since bilateral agreements do not ensure the appropriate framework, since they are complex, non transparent, and often discriminatory. We want to contribute to the creation of an appropriate international environment for bus and coach services in Europe, based on the principles of open markets and highest quality standards for drivers, vehicles and companies."
Jean Wyns, President of Eurolines "Les lignes régulières situées complètement à l'intérieur de l'espace Schengen doivent pouvoir circuler facilement sans contrôle des visas. Un contrôle doit suffire dans le cas des contrôles portant sur l'immigration clandestine. Les contrôles ne doivent pas dépasser 45 minutes. Les personnes ne disposant pas de documents d'identité en règle doivent être prises en charges par les autorités locales et l'autocar doit pouvoir continuer son trajet."	More...
The current regulatory framework and future developments
Tom Howes, Administrator, European Commission, DG TREN "EU efforts to facilitate international regular services by bus and coach in Europe" "The Commission tries to consult and discuss these issues with industry and other stakeholders at every opportunity. It is on this consultative basis that we develop policy and proposals to spur the growth and competitiveness of industry."	More...
Romain Hubert, Mechanical Engineer, Technology Section, UNECE Transport Division "Harmonisation of technical and safety related regulations for buses and coaches beyond the European Union" "The purpose of the Global Agreement concerning the establishing of global technical regulations (GTRs) for wheeled vehicles, equipment and parts which can be fitted and/or used on wheeled vehicles, is to establish a global process for the worldwide harmonisation of technical requirements regarding safety, environmental protection, energy efficiency and anti-theft performance of motor vehicles and their trailers, independently from the administrative procedure applied in the different countries. This Global Agreement is a good basis for global harmonisation of vehicle regulations, since it is also applied in parallel to the 1958 Agreement."	More...
1st Interactive Panel Session: The Regulatory Framework - Harmonising rules and facilitating services.
Harald Möller, Bayern Express & P. Kühn, Berlin, Germany "Regulation: a burden or an incentive to the international regular service operators in Europe?" "Council Regulation (EU) No. 684/92 stipulates that a decision on applications for authorisations must be reached within four months. In practical terms, these long processing times make it difficult to react fast and flexibly to market changes." "In an ever more hard fought market, the across the board implementation of EU regulations is becoming increasingly important. However, controls on busses and drivers must be quick and efficient. Journey interruptions caused by control measures should be reduced to a strict minimum in consideration of the passengers affected."	More...
Nathalia Volk, Director, Evroclub, Passenger Transport Company, Ukraine "Advantages of harmonised bilateral agreements in bus and coach services in the CIS and beyond" "It seems practically impossible to harmonise rules on international regular lines within the framework of the current bilateral agreements. The creation of an international agreement on regular lines, similar to the INTERBUS agreement, which is applicable to occasional transport, is the solution."	More...
Huseyin Uludag, Head Road Passenger Transport Department, Ministry of Transport and Communication, Turkey "Challenges and opportunities in creating a multilateral framework for bilateral agreements" "Although the structure of the current bilateral agreements is similar, practically everything in them may vary. A priority should be given to the creation of an international agreement on regular services, which should also tackle issues related to border controls."	More...
Maris Pekalis, Director of the Road Transport Department, Ministry of Transport, Latvia "Application and Enforcement challenges: the EU versus bilateral system" "Coach and Bus Services are an important factor in the economy. It not only brings passengers to many different destinations but also generates revenues for other businesses. A healthy coach industry will not only be beneficial for the operators but also for customers. Priority should also be given to ending discrimination in favour of rail and to introducing a higher degree of fairness and transparency in the authorisation procedure, including more precise rules and shorter consultation periods."	More...
2nd Interactive Panel Session: Facilitating safe and secure travel - Practical problems and controls
Ruben Prada, Director International Division, ALSA Grupo, Spain "EU Road Safety rules: impact on competitiveness of EU versus third country operators" "Concernant le respect des règles sociales, beaucoup de sociétés de transport des pays tiers profitent du manque de contrôle de leur pays pour faire une concurrence déloyale aux transporteurs de l'UE. Les contrôles en entreprises doivent être renforcés dans les pays tiers mêmes."	More...
Gerhard Rust, Head International regular services, Blaguss Reisen GmbH, Wien, Austria "Security enforcement: finding the balance between governments' responsibilities and operators' concerns" "The coach certainly has a competitive disadvantage when compared with train or plane, in having to stop at borders. Accordingly, all our efforts are directed towards simplifying border crossings. On the other hand, companies operating in a grey area, or even illegally, are checked less often because the majority of them are not identified as scheduled service operators. This leads further to keener competition. Unfortunately, official control is carried out to a limited extent."	More...
Oleg Starovoytov, Ministry of Transport, Russian Federation "The Russian Federation Ministry of Transport regards international transport by coach and bus as one of the key areas for developing transport services between the European Union and Russia. At present, regular international bus services from Russia represent an important part of the transport services sector. Faster than rail links and cheaper than air travel, bus services enable passengers to reach any city reliably, safely, and with maximum comfort, whenever required."	More...
Yves Marchadour, President of EUROCONTROL Route "Road safety regulations in the EU Single Market: a level playing field between EU and third country operators?" "Dans un espace européen de libre circulation, il n'est plus possible que les services de contrôles restent confinés dans leur frontières."	More...
Conclusions
David Sutton, Chairman of the ECMT Group on Road Transport "This was an extremely useful and stimulating conference, which will certainly lead to further work and action at international level. The IRU recommendation to create a multilateral framework is certainly an interesting proposal and we will discuss it thoroughly within the ECMT. Such an agreement could become the required mechanism to facilitate the development of international bus and coach transport. We are ready to pave the way to such an agreement by also involving the industry into the discussion."	More...
Francesco Pacifico, IRU Vice-President "Pour changer cette situation, il faut donner priorité absolue à une évolution de la perception politique des activités de notre secteur. Plutôt que de le pénaliser, il faut faciliter le transport collectif de passagers en adaptant la législation et l'infrastructure correspondantes afin de satisfaire la demande croissante en terme de mobilité et de parvenir à un développement durable du secteur. Les gens doivent réaliser que les voyages par autobus et autocar offrent la fiabilité, la sécurité, le respect de l'environnement et le confort. La réduction des sources de concurrence déloyale entre les différents modes de transport de passagers et un cadre réglementaire paneuropéen strict et transparent, qui serait appliqué de façon harmonisée dans tous les pays, voilà des mesures nécessaires pour atteindre cet objectif et garantir le même traitement à tous les opérateurs de transport. Tous les acteurs doivent désormais s'asseoir à la meme table pour identifier les problèmes et définir un programme pour les résoudre."	More...

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