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COM (83) 295 
 
 
Vol. 1983/0118 
  
 
Disclaimer  
Conformém ent au règlement (CEE, Euratom) n° 354/83 du Conseil du 1er février 1983 
concernant l'ouverture au public des archives historiques de la Communauté économique 
européenne et de la Communauté européenne de l'énergie atomique (JO L 43 du 15.2.1983, 
p. 1), tel que modifié par le règlement (CE, Euratom) n° 1700/2003 du 22 septembre 2003 
(JO L 243 du 27.9.2003, p. 1), ce dossier est ouvert au public. Le cas échéant, les documents 
classifiés présents dans ce dossier ont été déclassifiés conformément à l'article 5 dudit 
règlem ent. 
In accordance with Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 354/83 of 1 February 1983 
concerning the opening to the public of the historical archives of the European Econom ic 
Communit y and the European Atom ic Energy Communit y (OJ L 43, 15.2.1983, p. 1), as 
amended by Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1700/2003 of 22 September 2003 (OJ L 243, 
27.9.2003, p. 1), t his file is open to the public. Where necessary, classified documents in this 
file have been declassified in conformity with Article 5 of the aforementioned regulation.  
In Übereinstimmung mit der Verordnung (EWG, Euratom) Nr. 354/83 des Rates vom  1. 
Februa r 1983 über die Freigabe der historischen Archive der Europäischen  
Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft und der Europäischen Atomgem einschaft (ABI. L 43 vom  15.2.1983,  
S. 1), geändert durch die Verordnung (EG, Euratom) Nr. 1700/2003 vom 22. Septem ber 2003  
(ABI. L 243 v om 27.9.2003, S. 1), ist diese Datei der Öffentlichkeit zugänglich. Soweit  
erforderlich, wurden die Verschlusssachen in dieser Datei in Übereinstimmung mit Artikel 5  
der genannten Verordnung freigegeben.  
COMMISSION  OF THE  EUROPEAN  COMMUNITIES 
COM(83) 295 final 
Brussels,  1 June 1983 
REPORT 
FROM THE COMMISSION  TO THE COUNCIL 
on the operation  of Regulation  (EEC) No. 517/72 on the 
introduction  of common  rules for regular  and special 
regular services  by coach and bus  between 
Member States in 1978, 1979 and 1980 
COM(83) 295 final 

- 1 -
COMMISSION  REPORT  ON THE OPERATION  OF REGULATION  (EEC) No.  517/72  ON 
REGULAR  AND SPECIAL  REGULAR  SERVICES  IN 1978, 1979 AND 1980 
I. INTRODUCTION 
Article  15 of Council Regulation (EEC) No.  517/72  of 28 February 1972 
on the introduction of  common  rules for regular and  special  regular 
. 1 
services  by coach  and bus  between  the Member  States , as  amended  by 
Council Regulation (EEC) No.  1301/78  of 12 June 1978%  calls  on the 
Commission  to send the Council a report on the operation of Regulation 
517/72 every three years. 
This report - covering 1978, 1979 and 1980 -  answers  that call. 
Its main purpose  is: 
(i) to show how services  have been developing; 
(ii) to assess the effectiveness of the procedures  adopted; 
(iii) to establish  the economic  impact  of the Regulation; 
(iv) to establish  the scale of the infringements. 
Beyond that, it provides a basis for assessing  which amendments  should 
be made to the Regulation, in the  light  of past experience. 
II. REPLIES  FROM THE MEMBER  STATES  AND COMMENTS  BY THE COMMISSION 
On 18 May 1981 the  Commission  sent the  Member  States a questionnaire 
requesting data for  this report. But the  results  were disappointing 
and raised a question  which  applies equally to other areas of the 
common transport  policy  - how can cooperation  between  the governments 
and the  Commission  be improved?  In this case: 
1 
OJ L 67, 20  March  1972, p. 19. 
2 
OJ L 158, 16  June 1978, p. 1. 

- 2 -
(i) not a  single  Member  State met the  deadline  and submitted  its reply 
by 31 July 1981; 
(ii) to make  matters  worse,  some of the  replies  were incomplete  or 
unclear:  many of the  statistics  failed  to cover all  the services 
concerned  or neglected  to give the detailed  breakdowns  requested. 
Those replies  received  are summed up in  this report. 

- 3 -
DEVELOPMENT  OF SERVICES 
1.1. Situation  on 31  December  1980 
(a) The Table set out  below sums up the  number of services  in 
operation  on 31  December  1980 and the  number of vehicle 
kilometres  coverd that year. 
NUMBER OF SERVICES VEHICLE  KILOMETRES 
Germany R S 1  2 
SES 
Total 19 
32 
51 5 035 
2 881 
7 916 
Belgium R S 
S H S 
Total 22 
172 
194 3 845 
9 500 
13 345 
Denma rk R S 
S R S 
Total 3 
3 174 
174 
France Total 32 16 232 
Ireland Total 27 4 820 
Italy Total 23 18 604 
Luxembourg R S 
S R S 
Total 3 
9 
12 663 
Nether lands Total 145 13 710 
United 
Kingdom Total 40 14 642 
GRAND TOTAL 527 90 106 
Belgium and the  Netherlands operated  by far the  most services.  On the 
other hand although  larger  countries  such as France,  Italy and the  United 
Kingdom  operated  fewer  services they covered longer distances. 
b) Breakdown  by link 
1 
2 RS = regular services. 
SRS = spécial  regular services. 

page - 4 - BeIgi urn Denmark Germany France Ireland Italy Luxembourg Mptherlands United 
Kingdom 
No 194 - 8 58 - 1 12 115 -
Belgium 
kns X 
13 345 - 344 3331 - 1200 736 7734 — 
No 3 3 - - - - - -
Denmark 
kma -X 
174 174 - - - - -— 
No 10 2 51 16 - 1 3 18 1 
Germany 
kma 1756 86 X 
7916 1838 - 336 1255 1299 1346 
No 8 - 3 32 - 12 — 1 ti 
France 
kms 3074 - 1691 16232 - 6798 — 495 4174 
No 
Ireland 
kns — 
- - -27 
X 
4820 - - -27 
4820 
No 
Italy 
]OB8 -• 2 
2753 18 
57&6 - 23 
X 
18604 - 2 
6265 1 
3800 
No 
Luxembourg 
kns 7 
? - - 5 
? : - 12 
X 
663 - -
No 
Netherlands ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 145 
X ? 
kns ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 13710 ? 
No 
United 
Kingdom ? 
? ? 
? ? 
? ? 
? ? 
? ? 
? ? 
? ? 
? 40 
X 
14642 

- 5 -
I*  A.c clear  from the figures  that: 
most (60%) of  Belgium's  Lin!.:.  -'tu  al-: MetherLands; 
(ii) Denmark  operated only three  services  - all of them to Germany; 
(iii) Germany ran most of its  services  to the  Netherlands, France 
and Belgium; 
(iv) France  ran regular  services  on the  routes  to Belgium,  Italy and 
the United  Kingdom,  almost  exclusively; 
(v) in  Italy services  to France  far outnumbered  all others (they 
accounted  for 75% of the  total). 

- 6 -
1.2 Number  of services introduced  or withdrawn between 1978 and 1980 
D B DK IRL IT Lux NL UK ced I R S 4 4 - ? ? - ? odu S R S 16 10 - - - ? ? 15 ? 
L. 
+-» 
c Total 20 10 - 4 2 2 15 6 
c 
3 R S 2 1 * ? ? _ 
m L_ 
•o S R S 6 9 — — ? ? — 
4J Total 8 9 — - 1 * - 2 9 -
3 
In short,  59 services  were introduced  and 29 withdrawn  over the three years, 
Leaving a net  increase  of 30  units. 
Set against  the 497  services  in operation  on 31 December 1977,  that is 
equivalent  to a modest 6% growth  rate. 
* Operations  on the Dungloe-Owagh  route  were suspended  temporarily  because 
of the troubles  in Northern Ireland. 
./. 

- 7 -
1.3 Services supplied  by the carriers 
A clearer picture  of the changes in the services offered  by the 
carriers  over the three years  covered  by this report could best  be 
formed by comparing  the statistics  for the numbers of passengers 
carried, of seats available  and of vehicles  used,  giving  breakdowns 
by year and by regular/special regular services respectively. 
Unfortunately, only  Belgium  and Germany  submitted  such breakdowns. 
Consequently,  only the aggregate  totals can be compared  for the 
other Member  States. 
(a) Number of passengers  carried 
1970  j J-979 LJLr..' i .A - - \  " 
Germany RS 
SRS 
Total 244 939 
357 185 
602 124 247 433 
348 334 
595 767 i 310 048 | 
^32 147 ! 
98 --. ' 343 195 j 141.53 
BeLg-'im 
Fran 
TreU SRS 
Total 533 346 
2 628 366 
3 161 712 545 933 
2 528 404 
3 074 337 " '-5 789  i 
10 793 J 
97, '6 582 100.07 BeLg-'im 
Fran 
TreU Total 622 058 781 678 
""l 60 820  99.89 BeLg-'im 
Fran 
TreU .. ..al 107 889 125 015 ""l 27 443 j  181.93 BeLg-'im 
Fran 
TreU •total  i 1 477 386 1 465 656 5, 9 115 j 96.14 
Ital 5  Total 
Lux,.,  ...  J Total 147 875 159 275 10'' :,3 386 j  90.30 Ital 5  Total 
Lux,.,  ...  J Total 137 940 121 196 
***** .i3 988 102.30 
Netherlands  j Total ? ? ***** ,43 273 ? 
United 
Kincjdom Total • 1 063 678 1 093 910 102,84 '"I 156 914 lo5.75 
TOTAL EUR 8 7 320 662 
ie Netherlands! 
•> 7 416 «34 
? 101.31 7 771 443 
11 314 716 104.72 
? TOTAL (excluding  t 
KUR 9 7 320 662 
ie Netherlands! 
•> 7 416 «34 
? 101.31 7 771 443 
11 314 716 104.72 
? 
In Denmark,  France,  Germany  and Italy the number of passengers  carried 
in 1980 was up on 1978. 
1 Compared  with 1978. 
2 Compared  with 1979. 

- 8 -
In Belgium  and Luxembourg  the number of passengers  fell in 1979 but  recovered 
slightly  in 1980. 
In both Italy and Denmark  fewer passengers  were carried  in 1980  than in 1979. 
Only Ireland suffered  a steady  decline since  1978. 
Beyond  that, the Table shows  that: 
(i) the  regualr services  in the  Netherlands  and Belgium  carried  the most 
passengers.  They were  also the Member  States  with the most services  in 
operation; 
(ii) despite  the limited  number  of services  in operation,  and distances  covered, 
in Ireland  a relatively  large  number  of passengers  were carried  ever there; 
(iii) the regular services  in Italy and France  carried  relatively  few passengers, 
despite the spectacular  211%  increase  in France  between  1978 and 1980. 
(b) Number of seats available 
1978 1979 1980 
Germany RS 
SRS 
Total 745 056 
563 036 
1 308 092 648 566 
555 205 
1 203 771 1 005 242 
759 530 
l 764 772 
Belgium RS 
SRS 
Total 3 610 795 
5 142 490 
8 753 285 3 606 432 
5 122 944 
8 729 376 3 615 961 
5 216 118 
8 832 079 
Denmark Total 987 111 991 192 988 224 
Franee Total 132 913 159 806 363 445 
United Kmgdon Total 1 968 259 1 907 943 1 915 148 
Ireland Total 1 253 ,384 1 320 880 1 298 608 
Italy Total 219 006 231 648 228 623 
Luxembourg Total 378 842 383 242 396 790 
Nether lands Total ? ? 9 460 325 
In every Member  State  except  the United  Kingdom  more seats were available 
in 1980 than in 1978. 

- 9 -
(c) Number of  vehicles  used 
1978 1979 HD 1 1980 tw I 
Germany 27 745 25 771 92.88 j 39 610 153.69 
—J 
Belgium 194 279 ! 198 659 102.25 1 194 841 98.07 ! 
Denmark 18 507 [ 18 584 100.41 18 528 1 99.69 
France 4 686 5 537 118.16 8 217  i  
~j 148*40 
United 
Ki ngdom 40 377 38 571 95.97 40 172 103.66 
Ireland 25 154 27 194 108.11 26 700 98.18 
. 
Italy 4 600 4 794 104.21 4 717 
• 98.39 
Luxembourg 7 372 7 612 103.25  j 8012 1 
—j 105.25 
Netherlands ? 1 194 326 ? 
With the exception  of the United Kingdom,  the number of  vehicles in use in  1980 
was up on the  1978 figure. 
1 Compared  with 1978. 
2 Compared  with 1979. 

- 10 -
1.4. Vehicle - kilometres covered, passenger  - kilometres covered  and receipts 
(a) Vehic'e - kilometres covered 
s 1978 1979 I98O *(2) 
Germany R' 
SR. 899 496 
1 522 133 
2 421 629 873 418 
1 568 823 
2 442 241 IOO.85 1 172 804 
1 807 077 
2 979 881 122.01 
Belgium RS 
SRS 
Total 1 287 899 
8 568 938 
9 856 837 1 300 838 
8 664 241 
9 965 079 101.09 1 309 404 
8 544 257 
9 853 661 " 98.88 
Denmark 830 437 833 O84 100.31 831388 S 99.86 
France 1 576 093 1 874 562 118.93 2 740 608 146.19 
United  5 
Kingdom-f 2 676 037 2 656 986 99.28 4 540 311 170.88 
Ireland 2 211 016 2 662 626 120.42 3 387 135 127.21 
Italy 1 066 944 1 406 494 131.82 1 371 377 97.50 
Luxembourg ? ? ? ? 
Netherlands Î ? 9 018 597 ? 
Belgian  and Dutch  vehicles clocked  up by far the  longest distances. 
It is to be  noted that these  are the two  countries  which had the most  services  in 
operation  and where the  largest  number of  passengers  were  carried. 
(b) Passenger  - kilometres covered 
Five Member  States submitted passenger  - kilometre figures,  and two  details  of 
their total  receipts. 
I978 1979 198O 
France 
Ireland 
Italy 
Nether lands 
Denmark^ 35 355 666 
166 851 000 
36 303 220 
? 
7 527 177 41 278 376 
173 548 000 
41 348 059 
7 
9 931 578 77 141 978 
621 898 000 
47 858 023 
1 028 689 944 
10 733 055 
Incomplete  though  the figures  are, the number of  passenger  - kilometres covered 
has clearly  increased substantially. 
1 Compared  with 1978 
2 Compared  with 1979 
3 Excluding  the Ribe - Flensburg route. 

- 11 -
(c) Receipts 
DM 1978 Lit DM 1979 Lit I DM 1980 Lit 
Germany ' RS 
SRS 
TOTAL 1 448 770 
1 958 016 
3 406 786 15 172 400 
15 172 400 1 345 718 
1 870 808 
3 216 526 18 476 .000 j 
18 476 000 1 843 £96 
1 697 468 
3 540 764 25 717 200 
25 717 200 
1 TOTAL DK Kr 1 054 074 1 233 374 1 143 000 Danemark TOTAL DK Kr 1 054 074 1 233 374 1 143 000 
1 
On the Ribe - Flensburg route alone. 

- 12 -
2. Procedures 
2.1 Negotiations  between  Member  States 
In mc: cases  there was no  need for the Member  States  to enter into 
fullscule  negotiations  on applications  to introduce  a service,  to 
vary the operating conditions  or to  renew an authorization. 
Generally  a simple  exchange  of letters  sufficed  to solve any problems 
which the carriers'  applications  had created  between  the Member  States. 
2.2 Cooperation  between  the Member  States 
(a) The following  comments  were made in  connection with cooperation 
between the Member  States: 
(i) Italy  encountered problems  with services affecting  more than 
two Member  States; 
(ii) Luxembourg  mentioned  a disagreement  on the  introduction  of 
a special regular service; 
(iii) the United Kingdom  claimed that  much as it  desired  to promote 
regular services  and to  encourage  the introduction  of new  ones, 
other Member  States  were combating  them to safeguard  the 
interests  of their railways  or of  their established regular 
services.  Much to the UK's  regret,  the Member  States' diverging 
policies  repeatedly resulted  in the  rejection  of applications 
to introduce  a new  regular service  or to  improve  an 
existing  one. 
For its part, the Commission  had not  been asked  to settle a single 
dispute  under the procedure proveded  for by  Article  14 (1). 
It is fair to conclude  that the cooperation  procedure  introduced 
by Regulation  517/72  undoubtedly  has provided  a way  round the 
difficulties,  even though  the solutions  which 

- 13 -
have emerged  have not always  been to the entire satisfaction of all 
the Member  States.  Nevertheless  not one has  seen fit to  invoke  the 
arbitration  procedure  provided  for by Article 14 (1). 
(b) Tariff fixing  posed  no problem.  Several  Member  States did not  ever 
have rules on this subject but  allowed  free ':~r'.ii  fixing.  Others 
attempted  to negotiate a  maximum  fare or a  gred-etcd  tariff  laying 
down the maximum  and minimum  fares. 
(c) German  tariffs  were based  on the carriers' c::r. calculations, with all 
due account  taken  of the interests of the public at large.  None of the 
other |viamhr.r-  ct-^oc  gave details of the basic  data taken  ir.te 
consideration  tariffs  '..'ere  fixed. 
2.3 Relations with the carriers 
On the whole  relations  between  the Member  States'  competent  authorities 
and the carriers  were satisfactory.  Only the United  Kingdom  raised a  number 
of specific points: 
(i) it was  sometimes  difficult  to implement  Article 10 of the 
1 
Regulation since it was out of the question to force a  earner  to 
continue  to operate  a loss-making  service; 
(ii) the protracted  decision-making  process,  lasting up to  twelve 
months  in certain  Member  States, put carriers' interests in serious 
danger. 
Article  10 
1. An authorization shall lapse three  months  after the  competent  authority 
has received  from  its holder notice of his intention to  withdraw  the 
service.  Such notice  must contain a  proper  statement  of grounds. 
The holder of the authorization shall notify in an appropriate  manner 
the public and the  passengers  concerned  of his intention to  withdraw 
the service. 
2. Notwithstanding  paragraph  1, in the  event  of the  demand  for a service 
having ceased  to exist, the authorization for a special regular service 
shall lapse on the  date given  by the holder in a  communication  to the 
competent  authorities  conveying  his intention to  withdraw  the service. 
The communication  must contain a  proper  statement  of grounds. 

- 14 -
Belgium  raised  the same  point in the  last three-year report,  prompting 
the Commission  to call on the Member  States to speed up their decision­
making procedures.  Once again the Commission  emphasizes  that the Member 
States must take decisions  as quickly  as possible. 
(iii) British  carriers  complained  that customs  authorities  in the  other Member 
States did not  always  accept the UK  authorization issued  in line with 
Regulation  517/72  as valid for the  entire route covered  by the  service. 
The Commission  feels that every  effort  must be made to  ensure  that officials 
of the competent  authorities  in the Member  States are adequately acquainted 
with the Community  rules. The competent  authorities  in the Member  States should 
immediately take all necessary  measurer,  to ensure  that their  officials  are 
adequately trained.  Should  fundamental  differences  of opinion  on the  application 
of Regulation  517/72  persist,  the Member  States should refer  the dispute  to the 
Commission  so that a solution guaranteeing correct operation  of the  Regualtion 
can be found. 
3. Control  procedure  and penalties 
3.1 The  checks are made by the  police or by  duly-authorized inspectors.  Very 
often they take  the form of roadside  checks  carried  out at  sporadic 
intervals,  though  sometimes  they are made on the  carriers'  premises.  A 
number of Member  States stressed that  use of the  tachograph  had facilitated 
the controls considerably. 
3.2 Breaches  of the  Regulation  were punishable  under  criminal  law in  Ireland, 
the United  Kingdom,  Luxembourg  and Netherlands,  whereas  administrative 
penalties  were imposed  in Italy and Germany.  None of the  other countries 
gave details  of the  types of penalties  imposed. 
3.3 According tothe  Member  States infringements  were  relatively  rare. However, 
the United  Kingdom  pointed  out that unauthorized services  were being 
operated  on the  London-Athens  route. 

- 15 
The Wember  States' reciprocal information  procedure  «MIS operating well, 
but had been  little  used. 
4. Economic  impact  of the Regulation 
4.1 Satisfaction of  requirements 
(c> rts'.y,  Ireland and  Luxembourg  all felt that the  n~z"-'  tier had had 
satisfactory  effects in that it had allowed  proper  adjustment  of: 
(i) transport capacity to  demand; 
(ii) operation of services to  changes  in the  market. 
The Netherlands  felt that such adjustment  was not  always  possible 
because  of the different interpretations put on the  criteria  listed 
in Articles  8 and 9 in the individual  Member  States. 
What is more,  the United  Kingdom  felt that Article  8 restricted  free 
competition offered established carriers  numerous  advantages  and 
prevented  proper  adjustment  of supply to  demand. 
Finally,  Germany  and Belgium  both said that  implementation  of the 
Regulation had had no perceptible  economic  impact  and brought  no 
marked improvement  over the situation  beforehand;  the Community 
Regulation simply  pursued  the same objectives as the national rules 
which went before it. 
(b) According to the United  Kingdom,  cooperation  agreements  between 
carriers  amounted  to the creation of pools  which  hald a  monopoly 
on the market  and, as  such, were not in the  passengers'  best 
interest. 
Luxembourg  felt that cooperation  agreements  were impracticable 
unless imposed  by the public authorities. 

- 16 -
Only Italy  said that conclusion  of cooperation  agreements  sometimes 
brought  improvements  in regular services. 
Generally speaking, very  few carriers  had concluded cooperation 
agreements. 
4.2 Impact  on coordination 
Belgium  felt that the procedures  instituted  to improve  coordination 
between  carriers  and between  different  modes of  transport  had been 
successful  in the  first case, but not in the  second. 
To avoid  distorting  competition  the United  Kingdom  had no  intention  of 
encouraging these procedures. 
Most Member  States  had little  experience  in this field. 
5. Amendments  proposed 
5.1 The  following  amendments  have been proposed: 
(i) Luxembourg  advocates  extending  the maximum  period  of validity 
of the authorization  for special regular services  from the 
current two years to four years,  for example,  and allowing  a 
shorter period  in cases other than those  explicity  mentioned 
in the second  subparagraph  of Article  3 (2). 
(ii) The United  Kingdom  has suggested  amendments to  promote  the 
introduction  of new  services  and to  eliminate  measures  to 
protect established  carriers. 
(iii) The Netherlands  has proposed  a study to explore  ways of 
ensuring uniform application  of the  criteria  referred  to in 
Article 8(1). 

- 17 -
What is more, the  Netherlands feels that  once the Member  State in 
which the place of departure  is situated  and the  destination State 
• 1 have reached  agreement  to introduce  a service authorization should 
be granted, provided  the transit  section across other  Member 
States'  territory  takes the form of a "closed-door tour". This  is 
an appropriate point  for the  Commission  briefly  to recapitulate  the 
procedure described  in Articles  13 and 14: 
(a) the Member  States  in whose  territories  the passengers  are to be 
1 
taken up or set down  agree to introduce  a service  ; 
(b) notification  of the  decision  is then sent  to the Member  States 
whose territories  are to be  crossed  in transit,  who may  submit 
their comments; 
(c) should  the Member  States crossed  in transit  consider that  the 
decision  is liable to give rise to serious  difficulties,  they 
may object before  it takes effect (i.e. within  one month of 
notification)  following  the procedure  laid down in  Article  14, 
which allows States  whose  territory  is crossed  in transit  to 
refer disputes  to the  Commission. 
(iv) Germany  feels that  the Member  States should  be relieved  of the 
obligation  to send, at periodic  intervals,  copies  of all the 
authorizations  granted bearing  in mind the administrative costs 
incurred  and that the Commission  departments  receive  the data in 
any case  for the  three year report. 
(v) Italy  feels that there  is a potential  danger  of regular services 
competing  against shuttle services  and has  proposed  exploring  the 
prospects  for closer coordination  of the  standards  laid down by 
Regulations  Nos 517/72  (which deals with regular services)  and 
516/72 (on shuttle services) respectively. 
5.2 The  question  of the  value of operating rules  brought  the following  replies: 
(i) Belgium, Ireland  and the  Netherlands  felt that there  was no  need to 
lay down any  such rules; 
1 Or on variation  of operating conditions  or on the  renewal  of an  authorization. 

- 18 -
(ii) the United Kingdom  feared that operating rules  would  only add to 
carriers'  costs  without  bringing proportional benefits; therefore 
they were not  desirable; 
(iii) Denmark had no  proposal  to make on this point; 
(iv) Germany  said that  by and  large the national rules  had sufficed  in the 
past and that the lack of Community  rules in this field had not  caused 
any problems; 
(v) Italy  and Luxembourg  favoured  operating rules  based  largely  on the 
national regulations,  but only for regular services said  Luxembourg, 
which felt that no such rules were needed for  special regular services. 

- 19 -
6. THE COMMISSIONS'S  CONCLUSIONS 
The governments'  replies  point to the conclusion that 1978 to 1980 was 
a period of sustained growth in regular road passenger services as a 
whole. This encouraging trend varied in degree in  different  parts of 
the Community,  but nowhere  was there a spectacular  downturn. 
In all likelihood  the real situation  was even  more favourable than 
suggested by the fragmentary  statistics  set out in  this report. At 
any event the trend is  certain  to continue. 
The reasons are  clear - quality  of service and fares which are compatible 
with the market and bear a  fair relation  to the service offered. As 
regards  quality,  bus services  have long shed  their "middle-class"  image 
for good. Passenger comfort second to  none has been added to the unique 
advantages of road transport, i.e. the convenient  virtually  "door-to-door" 
service,  speed,  flexibility,  extensive network and the  ability  to adapt to 
market requirements. All these assets apply equally to regular services, 
even allowing for  their special  nature. Transport  policy  should  capitalize 
on these assets wherever there is  demand. 
All the more so with coach and bus transport  still attractively  priced 
in comparison with its actual and  potential  rivals. 
In times of depressed economic  activity,  with many families  facing  ever-
increasing  problems,  this advantage should not be underestimated, 
particularly  bearing in  mind the general public benefit of maintaining the 
mobility  of the populace. It is  irrelevant  whether  this need reflects 
private, 

- 20 -
professional  or other  interests.  Transport  policy must satisfy  them all. 
Consequently, the Commission  feels  that it is important for the competent 
authorities  to take objective account of these  intrinsic  advantages of bus 
and coach services  when they apply and  interpret  Community  Legislation. 
Needless to say deregulation of healthy, well-established market structures 
is out of the question. But exaggeratedly  restrictive  defence of the 
authorization  system in the  hope of imposing a  fair share-out of  traffic 
rarely produces the expected  results.  Establishment of a European bus 
network capable of  satisfying  all the requirements and with the  potential 
to expand must remain a fundamental, indispensable element of the 
Community  transport  policy. 
This does not imply that the Commission is supporting one  mode of transport 
against another. On the contrary, the Commission stresses that the railways 
too can and  must play a key  role in the establishment and operation of the 
bus network. 
The position  which the railways ultimately claim or  build up for themselves 
on these markets - in collaboration with the coach and bus operators if 
need be-  will depend  solely  on the  measures  which they are prepared to 
take themselves, not on any steps the public  authorities  take which might 
discourage new  initiatives  and add to the  risks involved in the  commitments 
entered  into by private - sector entrepreneurs. 
From the inadequate data in the  Commission's  hands, it is hard to  gauge 
how far market trends  have been hampered  by the  efforts  to defend the 
existing  rules. 
No doubt there are differences - not all of  them easy to understand in 
the way the  individual  Member  States  have gone about implementing the 
Community  legislation.  No doubt the protracted administrative procedures 
sometimes  encountered are hard to reconcile with economic necessity. 
As the complaints from the  carriers  show,  this complicates the operators' 
activities  all the  more - which was  certainly  far from the  legislator's 
invention.  The Commission is 

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ready and willing  to ask  its departments  to examine  these  difficulties  at 
any time and to  take action  wherever  the Community  legislation  is 
breached. 
It is also keen to enter into  an exchange  of views on the  application 
and future  development  of the  Community  legislation  with the governments 
in the Member  States. 
One final task ahead is to  pinpoint  what improvements must  be made to the 
rules concerning regular services  in order to create a more estensive  common 
market in them.