SETTING THE STANDARD
PROBLEMS FACED BY OPERATORS AND OPERATORS’ BEST PRACTICES FROM A UK PERSPECTIVE

By Alan Scoles
President, Confederation of Passenger Transport, UK
Operations Planning Director, Shearings Holidays

The UK bus and coach industry. Its place in interurban and tourist transport.

Coach services are largely ignored, or regarded as the transport of last resort. But for many young, elderly, incoming, sports teams and their supporters coaches are absolutely vital.

National Express offers a reasonably intensive network of regular services, mainly radiating from London. Stagecoach Megabus has also entered the market in recent years and there are a few other services around the country filling in the gaps in the rail network. All are operated commercially with some central government re-imbursement in return for fare concessions for pensioners.

Please note that from 2008 pensioners will be able to travel free on local buses throughout the country. Currently they can only travel free within their own local region. 

Authorities do not routinely include coach services in their transport plans at national or local level. Only rail, tram or local buses are considered.

Main Problems faced by the industry

a) In the UK
- No political support. Any public transport investment is in local bus and rail.
A further example is the likely exclusion from certain motorway High Occupancy Vehicle lanes.
 Coaching is not a vote-winning topic for politicians and there is no public financial accountability. We do not register on their agenda.
- Poor public perception of our services. Incorrectly, much of the population who do not use coaches, believe the standard of service and the vehicles to be poor. As school children, our future adults only experience of coaches is the elderly vehicles used to take them to school as our local authorities seek contracts based purely on the cheapest price.
- Congestion. The reliability of our services is severely affected on a daily basis throughout the country, and especially on the motorways.
- Low Emission Zone (LEZ). The London scheme commences July 2008 with other cities threatening to copy. £200 entry will be charged for pre-Euro 3 coaches.
- Coach Parking. Parking facilities are inadequate due to alternative, more profitable uses of land. There is no specific requirement to provide facilities, and this can also make it difficult for drivers to comply with their rest requirements
- Seat Belts For Under 14’s. There is still no clear guidance for under 14’s, although industry recognises this is a very difficult issue to solve. Belts can be 2 or 3 point, coach seats are to different designs, children different sizes.
- Driver Recruitment & Retention.  There is an increasing driver shortage brought about by the lack of new and young recruits. The poor image, low pay, unfashionable working hours, and worsening driving conditions all contribute. Introduction of the driver CPC will also have an impact in the short term.
- Disability Discrimination And Accessibility. Full wheelchair access to vehicles is already required for coaches built since 2005 and used on regular services, but this has not so far been extended to occasional services. There has been no evidence of significant additional business and no financial case shown. 
Full access to all coaching services (e.g. allowing a blind person to travel) has been law since December 2006. There have been no known problems as yet, and generally the industry already looked after all its customers. The new rules do ensure operators are consistent in taking customers with disabilities
- Vehicle Weights. The gradual increase in equipment, together with heavier passenger weights is making it increasingly difficult to keep within the permitted 18 tonnes laden on two axles. There is increased use of longer vehicles on 3 axles, but significant cost implications that go with them.
- London 2012. Whilst a long way off, the scale of the Olympics means that the industry already needs to consider vehicle requirements and specifications, driver recruitment and training etc. Rail has a legacy. It is unlikely coaches will!
- Norwalk Virus. Severe sickness and diarrhoea. It is highly contagious and spreads rapidly. The elderly are particularly vulnerable. Outbreaks are increasing year by year.
b) In Europe
 - The huge range of local rules and regulations. There is no consistency between countries and they are rarely well publicised
- Enforcement. Drivers are always guilty until proven innocent, but any appeal in a foreign country is unrealistic and impractical. Problems often caused by different or wrong interpretation of rules by officers. There is no standard scale of fines, although CPT is currently involved in a project to try and change this.
c) EU Legislation
- The latest drivers’ hours regulations. Although we, in the UK, lobbied strongly in Brussels we were ignored. Freight is the dominant sector and our radically different operating circumstances are not understood
- Constant changes to emission levels. This results in difficulty estimating vehicle residual values and future uses.
- Passenger rights. Our industry already has a good record and there is already protection for customers under the Package Travel Regulations. There is a danger that we could be made responsible for the many incidents outside our control e.g. motorway closure, border delays or severe weather.

Practices that have most penalised UK operators in recent years.
- Parking charges. There has been a widespread introduction and increase in charges as authorities seek increased revenue. Much of it is carried out by public authorities, but also applies private sector bodies e.g. Heathrow and Wembley
- Parking enforcement. Each local authority (32 in London alone) has its own policies, and many have nil tolerance towards UK coaches, encouraged once again by revenue earning opportunities and the use of cameras. This is a very serious problem in London for coaches dropping off and picking up at hotels and venues. There is currently no enforcement on foreign coaches as there is no way that any fines can be collected.

Examples of satisfactory solutions found at city/national/EU level

- Europe. Paris – A lack of consultation, but clear rules and regulations.
- UK Parking. Rochester, Chester and York
UK Bus & Coach Industry’s own initiatives to ensure high quality, safety and environmental protection.
 - CoachMarque. It is linked to the Dutch keurmerk scheme, although doesn’t follow the same rules.
- Bio-fuel Initiative. Hunts Coaches (Lincolnshire) have recently introduced a touring coach running on bio-fuels.
- National Express features. The ‘Kiddizone’ area has seats fitted with special seatbelts and appropriate booster seats. It is not a play area! They also introduced a ‘magic lift’ to provide full wheelchair access.

Examples of best practices at company or industry level

- Oxford Tube. A 24 hour express service from Oxford to London
- North Kent Commuter Services. Includes coach tracking and real time information.
- Grand Tourer. Wallace Arnold introduced luxury 36 seat touring coaches. Numerous other tour operators have subsequently copied the concept.
- CPT Crisis Control. A 24/7 free Emergency Service offering immediate, professional advice to support operators facing the aftermath of such an incident
 
How to proceed in the future from a UK perspective: What are the most urgent issues to be addressed and how?
- Achieve political awareness. The services we can provide need to be fully considered in all transport schemes, especially where rail cannot deliver. We should promote our credentials in the congestion, social inclusion and climate change debates.
- Drivers hours regulations. We must set up a Europe wide project to pool the issues. Previous response was too rushed and came too early for significant evidence to be collated. There must be a longer term project.

What role for national associations, IRU, partners from related industries and authorities?
- Create industry unity across Europe especially for E.U. Legislation. We will not achieve anything unless our industry contributes Europe wide, and makes common representations. Bringing together 27 countries with different working conditions is not easy, but we cannot allow ill-informed politicians and officials to push through muddled, compromised and inappropriate Directives and Regulations. We will only win by being united. 
- Establish and deliver common goals that all countries can sign up to. Suggestions: -

1. A Coach Strategy. To provide a clear focus and promote our selling points. We need to distance ourselves from freight.

1. Action on the quality scheme. It should not be too prescriptive or bureaucratic, flexible enough to recognise the different operating conditions in each country and most importantly considers closely what the customer wants i.e. a professional and efficient service, the standard of coach he/she paid for and a friendly and competent driver.

- National associations need to look after domestic and foreign coach interests in their work. Represent all coach interests, including foreign enforcement issues which will increase with the latest regulations
- Initiatives to find partners with the same vision as us. Authorities and tourist businesses that recognise and often rely on coaches e.g. London theatres, need to be engaged.
- The transfer of information between associations. Whilst this does happen to an extent, perhaps it should be more formal.

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