Annual Report 1997

4. Report of the Bus and Coach Working Group

Members
Iain Aitchison - Association of Transport Co-ordinating Officers
Steven Barber - Confederation of Passenger Transport
Peter Barker - DPTAC
Andrew Braddock - London Transport
Steve Ellis - Confederation of Passenger Transport
Claudia Flanders - DPTAC
Hilary Howatt - DPTAC and the Passenger Transport Executive Group
Michael Lambden - Confederation of Passenger Transport
Jenny Meadows - DPTAC
Campbell McKee - Mobility Products Association
Philip Oxley - Cranfield University
David Quainton - DPTAC and the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders
Dorothy Rhodes - DPTAC
Tony Shaw - Formerly London Transport

Observers
Ann Frye - DETR
Donald MacDonald - DETR
Sue Sharp - DETR
Edward Stait - DETR

Throughout the year the Group has continued to promote its bus specifications. We have also been monitoring the implementation of our recommendations for low floor buses and in the light of experience and valuable comment from manufacturers, operators, local authorities and users we agreed a number of changes. Those have been notified to the trade and to disability interests through an addendum which was issued to coincide with the Coach and Bus exhibition in Birmingham in the autumn of 1997. It was also publicised in a DPTAC Press Notice.

In monitoring the impact of our recommendations we have been concerned about moves towards new colour combinations in vehicle interiors. Some manufacturers and operators have moved away from the handrail colours recommended in our specification. We have had discussions with one such operator to ensure that as far as possible the resulting colour scheme was helpful to partially sighted people. We have also been encouraging the Department to carry out some research in this area to provide the bus and coach industry with more detailed guidance. We hope that work will get underway in 1998.

We have, of course, been continuing to work with the Department in drawing up the Government's proposals for accessible buses and coaches under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). As Chairman of the Group I have also continued to be involved in the discussions with trade representatives. The Government's proposals were published on 19 December 1997. DPTAC will be responding to that wider public consultation in the new year.

As part of our discussions on the DDA regulations we have been asked about the use of portable ramps. While the Group would not want to rule out such devices out of hand, we are keen to monitor their use to establish whether they fully meet the needs of wheelchair users in terms of safety and dignity, and also to see if drivers are happy to use them. We will be continuing to monitor this into next year.

In the course of 1997 we established a Coaches Sub-committee to monitor more closely the Department's project on wheelchair access to higher floor vehicles, but also to draw up our own specification for higher floor vehicles which would offer advice to the industry ahead of the DDA. The discussions stopped short of wheelchair accessibility, which we recognised as being some time off for the industry, but did address the accessibility needs of ambulant disabled people, eg design of steps, provision of handrails and the use of colour contrasts. In the light of the DDA consultation document which DETR issued before Christmas we concluded that it would be more appropriate to use the results of our discussions as an input to the DETR consultation process, rather than to present them in a published specification.

We have not published our guidelines on the design of light rail systems as we had expected to do at the beginning of the year. Again we concluded that in the light of forthcoming consultation on the draft rail accessibility regulations that our recommendations should be used to influence DPTAC's response to that exercise.

Our considerations have not been limited to national issues. We have also been monitoring very carefully the progress in Brussels on the draft EC Directive on bus and coach construction. This long awaited document was finally published towards the end of 1997. The Group is anxious to ensure that the UK is able to negotiate a position which enables the Government to take forward the DDA proposals and at the same time does not undermine accessibility improvements in other member states. We will continue to keep this issue under review.

Tony Kennan
Chairman

Bus and Coach Working Group - Work Programme 1998

1. Work with DETR to introduce PSV accessibility regulations under Part V of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) and to consider the implementation of Part III of the Act in relation to bus and coach infrastructure.

2. Continue to work with the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT), the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Trades (SMMT), the Association of Transport Co-ordinating Officers (ATCO) and the Passenger Transport Executive Group (PTEG) to improve access to bus and coach services nationwide.

3. Consider whether there is a need for DPTAC to produce advice or a specification for non-PSV minibuses.

4. Continue to promote DPTAC Specifications in advance of regulations under the DDA, and to monitor their impact on the industry.

5. Develop programmes for accessible information systems that meet the needs of people with sensory impairments and learning disabilities.

Terms of Reference for the Bus and Coach Working Group
(primarily concerned with Public Service Vehicles)

1. The membership of the Group will be agreed with the Chairman of the Group and the Chairman of the DPTAC. Membership will be limited to no more than twenty members.

2. The membership of the Group will include representatives from disability interests, bus and coach industry - manufacturing and operating - and other appropriate interests.

3. The Group will normally meet at least four times a year.

4. The Chairman of the Group will generally be a full time member of the DPTAC and will make a report on the Group's work to each meeting of DPTAC.

5. The Group will:

   a) consider issues affecting elderly and disabled people travelling on buses and coaches;

   b) consider requests from DETR and other Government Departments to DPTAC for guidance/advice on policy issues and make recommendations to DPTAC on those issues;

   c) undertake such work as they, in consultation with DPTAC, consider necessary to progress the interests of disabled people in relation to bus and coach transport;

   d) raise issues, through DPTAC, for consideration by the DETR;

   e) draw up guidance and codes of practice, as necessary, for clearance by DPTAC for publication as formal DPTAC advice;

   f) provide advice to DPTAC, on consultation papers from Government and other organisations; and

   g) provide advice to DPTAC in relation to its statutory role in respect of the bus and coach provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

6. All papers submitted to the Group will be confidential to its members and details discussed within the Group should not be discussed with third parties, without prior agreement of the Secretariat.

Published 3 June 1998

Top of page