REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Report on the application of Regulation (EU) No 181/2011 concerning the rights of passengers in bus and coach transport and amending Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004
Date: 2016-09-27
Institutions: Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, application of EU law, bus, consumer protection, public transport, transport safety, transport user

EN 

   EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 27.9.2016  COM(2016) 619 final   REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Report on the application of Regulation (EU) No 181/2011 concerning the rights of passengers in bus and coach transport and amending Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004  
 
 
1. 

INTRODUCTION 

1.1.  Background 

Regulation (EU) No 181/20111 (‘the Regulation’) lays down a series of rights for passengers 
who travel by bus and coach in the European Union. It became applicable on 1 March 2013. 

The Commission is submitting this report under Article 32 of the Regulation, which requires 
it  to  report  to  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  on  the  operation  and  effects  of  the 
Regulation and, if necessary, to make proposals for legislation to implement the provisions of 
the Regulation in more detail or to amend it. 

The report is based on: data on the implementation and application of the Regulation gathered 
directly  by  the  Commission;  the  national  authorities’  reports  on  the  enforcement  of  the 
Regulation2; consultations conducted among bodies representing passengers and the industry 
at  European  level3;  and  the    Comprehensive  Study  on  Passenger  Transport  by  Coach  in 
Europe, an external study carried out for the Commission in 2015 and 2016 4. 

1.2.   Importance and features of the EU bus and coach transport sector 

Buses  and  coaches  are  a  flexible  transport  mode  and,  unlike  trains  or  aircraft,  are  generally 
able  to  pick  up  and  set  down  passengers  anywhere  with  a  minimal  provision  of  fixed 
infrastructure. 

In  passenger-kilometre  terms,  bus  and  coach  transport  holds  a  9.2 %  share  of  all  land 
passenger  transport  in  the  EU  and  is  the  most  important  means  of  land  passenger  transport 
after private cars (81.7 %)5. The liberalisation of the international coach market more than a 
decade  ago6  and  the  recent  liberalisation  of  the  domestic  coach  markets  in  several  Member 
States (including Germany and France7) has created steady growth in the coach sector. 

1  Regulation (EU) No 181/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 concerning 
the rights of passengers in bus and coach transport and amending Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 (OJ L 55, 
28.2.2011, p. 1). 

2  National  authorities  designated  by  the  Member  States  to  enforce  the  Regulation  were  required  to  publish  a 
report  by  1  June  2015  on  their  enforcement  of  the  Regulation  over  the  previous  two  calendar  years.  Most 
authorities published their reports on their homepages. 

3  The Commission invited organisations representing passengers (including those with disabilities), carriers and 
terminal operators at EU level to send observations on the operation of the Regulation in writing and to attend 
a meeting held in Brussels on 1 March 2016. The following organisations responded to the invitation to send 
contributions:  the  Association  of  Pan-European  Coach  Terminals  (APC),  the  European  Alliance  for  Coach 
Tourism  (ECTA),  the  European  Disability  Forum  (EDF),  the  European  Passengers’  Federation  (EPF),  the 
European  Passenger  Transport  Operators  (EPTO),  the  International  Road  Transport  Union  (IRU)  and  the 
International  Association  of  Public  Transport  (UITP).  In  addition,  spontaneous  contributions  were  received 
from a German passenger organisation, ProRail and a French coach company, Ouibus. 

4  http://ec.europa.eu/transport/modes/road/studies/doc/2016-04-passenger-transport-by-coach-in-europe.pdf 

5  EU Transport in Figures — Statistical Pocketbook 2015.  
6  COM(2008) 817 final. 
7  Following  the  liberalisation  of  the  German  market  in  2013,  the  number  of  authorised  long-distance  regular 
coach  services  rose  from  86  to  277  between  December  2012  and  January  2015.  These  services  transported 

2 

 
                                                            
 
 
Bus and coach transport is characterised by a number of distinctive features, which affect both 
operators and passengers. 

Unlike  aviation  and  rail  transport,  the  bus  and  coach  sectors  consist  largely  of  small  and 
medium-sized  undertakings  and  buses  and  coaches  share  the  road  infrastructure  with  other 
actors.  These  specific  features  are  taken  into  account  in  certain  provisions  included  in  the 
Regulation8. 

Surveys  carried  out  in  several  Member  States  at  national  level9  show  that  passengers  using 
this mode of transport tend to be vulnerable, as they are often on low incomes (a very high 
percentage of bus and coach users are students or elderly people with small pensions) or live 
in  geographically  isolated  areas,  where  bus  and  coach  is  the  only  available  mode  of  public 
transport.  Passengers  often  do  not  hold  a  driving  licence  or  do  not  own  a  car,  and  bus  and 
coach  services  are  therefore  essential  for  them  to  be  able  to  go  to  work  or  school,  to  visit 
family and friends or to enjoy leisure and tourism. Poor access to bus and coach transport can 
severely impede their integration into society. 

2. 

THE SCOPE AND CONTENT OF THE REGULATION 

The  EU  adopted  legislation  on  passenger  rights  for  all  modes  of  transport  (aviation,  rail, 
waterborne  and  bus/coach  transport)  in  order  to  give  members  of  the  public  a  guaranteed 
minimum level of protection when they travel in Europe, and thus to facilitate their mobility 
and social integration. The existence of a common set of passenger rights guaranteed by law 
across  the  four  modes  (with  provisions  reflecting  the  specific  features  of  each  mode  of 
transport) also helps to create a level playing-field for operators within and across the modes. 

Scope 

The  Regulation  applies,  in  general,  to  ‘regular  services’  (services  provided  at  specified 
intervals  along  specified  routes,  where  passengers  are  picked  up  and  set  down  at 
predetermined stopping points) for non-specified categories of passengers, where the boarding 
or alighting point of the passengers is situated in the territory of a Member State10. 

Content 

Passengers travelling on any type of regular service, irrespective of the scheduled distance of 
the service, benefit from the following core rights: 

between 17 and 19 million passengers in 2014. The French domestic market was liberalised in August 2015. In 
the first 6 months following the change in regulation, long-distance coaches transported 1.5 million passengers 
between 168 destinations (in the whole of 2013, only 110 000 passengers travelled by long-distance domestic 
coaches, and there were only 68 destinations on offer). Source: Comprehensive Study on Passenger Transport 
by Coach in Europe (2016). 

8  e.g.  unlike  other  transport  modes,  long  delays  or  the  cancellation  of  a  journey  at  arrival  does  not  trigger 

compensation. 

9  The 2013 National Travel Survey in the UK, the 2012 NTA National Household Travel Survey in Ireland, and 

a survey conducted by IGES consultancy in Germany in 2013. 

10  In addition, a limited number of provisions (the most important being on the compensation and assistance that 
carriers are required to provide in case of death, injury, loss or damage caused by road accidents) also apply to 
‘occasional  services’,  where  the  group  of  passengers  is  constituted  on  the  initiative  of  the  customer  or  the 
carrier. 

3 

 
                                                                                                                                                                                          
1) non-discriminatory transport conditions (notably non-discriminatory tariffs); 

2)  access  to  transport  for  people  with  disabilities  or  reduced  mobility  at  no  additional  cost 
(carriers can only refuse to transport passengers with disabilities if carrying them is physically 
impossible  given  the  design  of  the  vehicle,  the  bus  stop  or  the  terminal  infrastructure,  or  if 
doing so would breach health and safety requirements); 

3) minimum rules on the travel information provided to all passengers before and during their 
journey including information on their rights; 

4) a complaint handling mechanism that carriers must make available to all passengers; and 

5) independent national enforcement bodies in each Member State, which have the mandate to 
enforce the Regulation and, where appropriate, to impose penalties. 

Passengers  also  benefit  from  the  following  additional  rights  when  travelling  on  regular 
services where the scheduled distance of the service is 250 km or more: 

6)  provision  of  tickets  (electronic  or  paper)  or  any  other  documents  giving  entitlement  to 
transport; 

7)  compensation  and  assistance  in  the  case  of  death,  injury  or  loss  or  damage  to  luggage 
caused by an accident; 

8) information if the service is cancelled or delayed on departure; 

9) right to reimbursement of the full ticket price or rerouting in the case of a cancellation or a 
long delay at departure; 

10) adequate assistance in the case of a cancellation or a long delay (only applicable when the 
scheduled duration of the journey is more than 3 hours); 

11)  compensation  amounting  to  50 %  of  the  ticket  price  if  the  carrier  fails  to  offer  the 
passenger the choice between reimbursement of the ticket price and rerouting when there has 
been a cancellation or long delay; and 

12)  specific  assistance  at  no  additional  cost  for  people  with  disabilities  or  reduced  mobility 
both at bus terminals and on board. 

Exemptions from the scope of the Regulation11 

Member  States  may  grant  exemptions  from  the  non-core  rights  to  regular  services  that  are 
purely domestic for a period of up to four years (ending on 28 February 2017 at the latest), 
which  may  be  renewed  once.  The  basis  for  such  exemptions  must  be  transparent  and  non-
discriminatory. A total of 12 Member  States (Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, 
Hungary,  Latvia,  the  Netherlands,  Portugal,  Romania,  Slovakia,  Slovenia  and  the  United 
Kingdom) are currently applying exemptions of this type. 

11  http://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/passengers/road/doc/exemptions-from-bus-coach-passengers-rights-and-

obligations.pdf 

4 

 
                                                            
Member  States  may  also  grant  exemptions  from  the  application  of  the  entire  Regulation  to 
regular services where a significant part of the service (including at least one scheduled stop) 
is operated outside the EU. These exemptions which must also be awarded on a transparent 
and  non-discriminatory  basis,  will  expire  by  28  February  2017  at  the  latest  and  may  be 
renewed  once.  A  total  of  13  Member  States  (Austria,  Croatia,  Estonia,  Finland,  Germany, 
Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Slovenia and the United Kingdom) 
are currently applying exemptions of this type. 

Other EU legislation applicable to bus and coach passengers 

Passengers who travel by bus and coach as part of a package trip enjoy additional rights under 
Directive (EU) No 2015/230212.  

Regulation  (EC)  No  661/200913  stipulates  the  accessibility  requirements  that  all  new  buses 
and  coaches  shall  fulfil  in  order  to  authorize  their  sale,  registration  or  putting  into  service 
within the EU. 

A  significant  part  of  coach  transport  occurs  in  an  intra-community  context:  passengers  are 
either travelling on cross-border services, or on domestic services outside their own Member 
State.  In  order  to  protect  the  interests  of  such  passengers,  Regulation  (EC)  No 2006/200414 
provides an appropriate framework within which national enforcement bodies can cooperate 
with each other and defend the collective interest of consumers in a cross-border context. 

3.  MEMBER STATES’ APPLICATION OF THE REGULATION 

The  Regulation  requires  Member  States  to  designate  national  enforcement  bodies  (NEBs), 
which are responsible for enforcing the Regulation and laying down effective, proportionate 
and  dissuasive  penalties  in  their  national  law,  in  order  to  sanction  operators  that  breach  the 
Regulation.  Member  States  are  also  required  to  designate  bus  and  coach  terminals  where 
passengers with disabilities or reduced mobility may receive appropriate assistance. 

The designation of NEBs15 

Most  Member  States  have  designated  NEBs  that  were  previously  responsible  for  passenger 
rights  in  other  transport  modes.  The  NEBs  are  either  transport  authorities  or  consumer 
protection authorities. Some Member States designated several NEBs: a consumer protection 
authority is often responsible for handling complaints while a transport authority carries out 

12  Directive  (EU)  No  2015/2302  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  25  November  2015  on 
package  travel  and  linked  travel  arrangements,  amending  Regulation  (EC)  No 2006/2004  and  Directive 
2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Directive 90/314/EEC (OJ L 
326,  11.12.2015,  p.  1).  This  Directive  has  to  be  transposed  within  the  national  laws  of  Member  States  by  1 
January 2018. Until that date, Directive 90/314/EEC is applicable. 

13  Regulation  (EC)  No  661/2009  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  13  July  2009  concerning 
type-approval requirements for the general safety of motor vehicles, their trailers and systems, components and 
separate technical units intended therefor (OJ L 200, 31.7.2009, p. 1). 

14  Regulation  (EC)  No  2006/2004  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  27  October  2004  on 
cooperation between national authorities responsible for the enforcement of consumer  protection laws (OJ L 
364, 9.12.2004, p. 1). 

15  For a list of NEBs responsible for enforcement of the Regulation, see: 

http://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/passengers/road/doc/2011_0181_national_enforcement_bodies.pdf 

5 

 
                                                            
 
inspections,  imposes  sanctions  and  monitors  the  accessibility  of  vehicles  and  terminals  for 
passengers with disabilities. Most Member States designated NEBs at national level only, but 
there are a small number of Member States where regional authorities also play an important 
role in enforcing the Regulation. 

Complaint handling 

Passengers  may  submit  complaints  about  alleged  infringements  of  the  Regulation  to  the 
carrier (the Regulation obliges them to have in place a complaint handling mechanism) or to 
the NEB. 

The Regulation does not stipulate a chronological order in which complaints must be lodged, 
but  it  does  allow  Member  States  to  require  that  passengers  submit  their  complaint  to  the 
carrier first, with the NEB only acting as an appeal body if the passenger is not satisfied with 
the  answer.  In  total,  20  Member  States  have  chosen  this  option.  It  has  the  advantage  that 
NEBs  can  process  complaints  more  efficiently  and  rapidly,  as  they  will  have  access  to  the 
correspondence between the complainant and the carrier from the outset, and will thus have a 
more comprehensive overview of the case from both parties’ points of view. 

There are no publicly available figures on the number of complaints submitted by passengers 
to  carriers  between  2013  and  2015.  Although  such  data  would  be  useful  for  assessing  the 
operation of the Regulation, carriers are not obliged to collect data on complaints or to report 
to the NEBs. 

It  is,  however,  known  that  the  NEBs  have  handled  very  few  complaints  (see  table  below). 
There are various reasons for this: i) the Regulation is relatively recent and many passengers 
may not be fully aware of their rights; ii) in most Member States, passengers must first submit 
their  complaints  to  the  carrier,  and  these  companies  appear  to  settle  most  complaints 
satisfactorily,  meaning  that  complaints  do  not  reach  the  NEBs;  and  iii)  in  some  Member 
States,  only  tribunals  can  impose  a  binding  decision  on  operators,  and  the  slow  and  costly 
litigation process discourages passengers from defending their rights. 

Sanctions 

Most Member States’ national legislation provide for a penalty system based solely on fines, 
but some NEBs can also withdraw an operator’s licence if it deliberately and systematically 
breaches the Regulation. 

NEBs  have  imposed  very  few  sanctions  in  the  first  two  years  since  the  Regulation  became 
applicable (see table below). Most have found that operators are keen to comply and resolve 
complaints before it becomes necessary to impose a sanction. 

6 

 
 
 
Table — Number of complaints handled and sanctions imposed by NEBs16 

Member State 

Number of complaints handled  Number of sanctions imposed 

Austria 
Belgium 
Bulgaria 
Croatia 
Cyprus 
Czech Republic 
Denmark 
Estonia 
Finland 
France 
Germany 
Greece 
Hungary 
Ireland 
Italy 
Latvia 
Lithuania 
Luxembourg 
Malta 
Netherlands 
Poland 
Portugal 
Romania 
Slovakia 
Slovenia 
Spain 
Sweden 
United Kingdom 

N/A 
1 
9 
0 
0 
132 
0 
0 
12 
21 
192 
N/A 
24 
4 
N/A 
0 
0 
N/A 
0 
N/A 
N/A 
N/A 
0 
0 
0 
1194 
2 
4 

N/A 
0 
0 
0 
0 
9 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
N/A 
16 
0 
N/A 
0 
0 
N/A 
0 
N/A 
N/A 
N/A 
0 
0 
0 
54 
0 
0 

16  The figures are taken from the NEBs’ activity reports and show the situation for the period from 1 March 2013 
to 1 January 2015. Where no figures are available (N/A), this indicates that there was no operational NEB in 
that Member State during the reporting period, that there was no penalty system in place to sanction operators 
that breached the Regulation, or that the NEB did not publish its activity report. 

  Not all NEB reports indicate the reasons for the complaints, and the above  figures might include complaints 

that fall outside the scope of the Regulation. 

7 

 
 
 
 
                                                            
Other enforcement and communication activities 

Handling complaints and penalising non-compliance are just two of the examples given in the 
Regulation  of  the  possible  measures  that  can  be  used  to  enforce  bus  and  coach  passenger 
rights. Many NEBs have been proactive and have taken additional action17. 

Designation of bus and coach terminals where passengers with disabilities and passengers 
with reduced mobility can receive assistance 

The  Regulation  requires  Member  States  to  designate  staffed  and  equipped  bus  and  coach 
terminals  which  will  provide  appropriate  assistance  to  passengers  with  disabilities  or  with 
reduced  mobility.  Providing  assistance  at  bus  and  coach  terminals  is  of  paramount 
importance,  as  passengers  with  disabilities  or  reduced  mobility  most  often  need  help  when 
boarding  or  alighting  from  buses  and  coaches,  and  this  requirement  can,  in  the  majority  of 
cases, be most easily met at terminals with a high volume of passenger traffic.  

The approach taken by Member States varies: some of the larger and more highly populated 
Member States have designated only one or a very small number of terminals, which does not 
correspond to either the size of the country or the volume of passengers carried by buses and 
coaches18..  

A number of other Member States also initially designated unstaffed bus stops without proper 
facilities, which clearly did not satisfy the requirements of the Regulation19. They withdrew 
these designations following the Commission’s intervention20.  

4.  OPERATION OF THE REGULATION AND ACTION FOR IMPROVEMENT 

4.1  Assessment of the operation of the Regulation 

Results of the consultation 

In  January  2016,  the  Commission  invited  various  bodies  representing  passengers  and  the 
industry at EU level to share their views on the operation of the Regulation21. 

All  participants  agreed  that  two  factors  have  a  major  impact  on  the  operation  of  the 
Regulation: 

17  e.g.  the  Bulgarian,  German,  Estonian,  Spanish,  French,  Lithuanian,  Finnish  and  Swedish  NEBs  inspected 
carriers  and  terminals.  In  addition,  the  German  NEB  organised  meetings  with  the  operators  before  the 
Regulation  became  applicable  to  prepare  them  for  its  application  and  published  leaflets  on  bus  and  coach 
passenger rights. The Finnish NEBs attended travel fairs to educate passengers about their rights.  

18 Although, in order to provide passengers with disabilities or reduced mobility with appropriate assistance, all 
staffed  terminals  with  significant  passenger  flow  should  be  designated  as  being  able  to  assist  passengers, 
Member  States  can  comply  with  their  obligation  under  the  Regulation  by  designating  only  one  terminal. 
Furthermore, they are not required to designate a terminal with a significant number of passengers departing or 
arriving.     

19 For the definition of terminals, see Article 3(m) of the Regulation. 
20 Please find the list of terminals designated by the Member States and notified to the Commission at: 
 http://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/passengers/road/doc/designated_bus_terminals.pdf 
21 See footnote 3.  

8 

 
 
                                                            
- The lack of suitable bus and coach terminals in  several Member States is  one of the most 
significant  barriers  to  the  development  of  bus  and  coach  transport:  modern,  accessible,  and 
safe terminals connected with other modes of transport could convince new users to opt for 
bus  and  coach  transport.  Bus  and  coach  terminals  also  play  a  key  role  in  applying  the 
Regulation: a high quality terminal can give passengers easier access to information about the 
services  and  about  their  rights  at  terminals,  terminal  staff  can  provide  passengers  with 
disabilities with the assistance they need, and passengers can be better assisted when there are 
transport disruptions. 

-  The  Regulation  did  not  introduce  new  accessibility  requirements  for  buses,  coaches  and 
terminals,  and  it  therefore  did  not  contribute  significantly  to  improving  the  accessibility  of 
vehicles  and  of  the  transport  infrastructure  (bus  stops  and  terminals)  for  passengers  with 
disabilities or reduced mobility. In order to make bus and coach transport accessible for these 
passengers, both the vehicles and the terminals must be accessible. The measures introduced 
by several Member States, under which operators will in future be required to use only fleets 
that  can  carry  passengers  with  disabilities  or  reduced  mobility22,  will  therefore  have  only 
limited  results  if  the  infrastructure  remains  inadequate.  The  Commission  is,  however,  also 
aware  of  local  and  regional  initiatives  where  operators  have  worked  closely  with 
organisations representing people with disabilities to make their services accessible to them23.   

Whilst  the  various  parties  consulted  agreed  on  the  points  above,  there  was  a  clear  division 
between organisations representing industry and passenger organisations as to the impact of 
the  Regulation.  The  organisations  representing  carriers  felt  that  the  Regulation  reflected  the 
optimal  balance  between  the  carriers’  obligations  and  passenger  rights,  taking  the  specific 
constraints of the sector into account, and provided the necessary level of flexibility. 

Organisations  representing  passengers  (EDF  and  EPF)  regretted  that  most  provisions 
contained  in  the  Regulation  applied  only  to  regular  services  with  a  scheduled  distance  of 
250 km or longer. In practice, this means that the overwhelming majority of regular bus and 
coach  journeys  are  only  subject  to  the  core  provisions  of  the  Regulation24.  Passengers’ 
organisations  also  criticised  Member  States  for  granting  too  many  exemptions25.  In  their 
opinion,  the  extensive  use  of  exemptions  deprives  passengers  of  the  full  enjoyment  of  their 
rights  and  of  legal  certainty  (particularly  as  it  is  difficult  for  passengers  to  know  which 
Member States apply which exemptions). 

The  parties  consulted  felt  that  there  was  no  need  to  amend  any  specific  provisions  of  the 
Regulation,  but  that  the  current  Regulation  should  be  better  applied  by  operators  and  more 
strictly enforced by the national authorities. 

22  France  and  Germany  will  require  operators  to  use  only  coaches  that  are  able  to  carry  passengers  with 
disabilities  by  2018,  Spain  and  the  UK  by  2020.  Source:  Comprehensive  Study  on  Passenger  Transport  by 
Coach in Europe (2016). 

23  Among  others,  the  public  transport  company  in  Wallonia  (Belgium),  the  Société  Régionale  Wallonne  du 
Transport, has been carrying out an audit of the accessibility of its bus lines since 2013, with the help of local 
organisations  representing  people  with  disabilities,  and  the  owner  of  the  Riga  International  Coach  Terminal 
worked  with  the  disability  organisation  Apeirons  to  make  the  terminal  fully  accessible  for  passengers  with 
disabilities or reduced mobility.  

24 See Section 2 of this report. 
25 See Section 2 above on the use of exemptions by Member States. 

9 

 
                                                            
Assessment by the Commission 

The Commission has not identified any deliberate or serious breaches of the Regulation. Most 
individual  complaints  of  which  the  Commission  is  aware  relate  to  the  lack  of  information, 
assistance  or  compensation  provided  in  the  event  of  long  delays  or  cancellations26.  The 
reports  provided  by  the  NEBs  suggest  that  many  complaints  fall  outside  the  scope  of  the 
Regulation27. 

Despite this positive overall picture, the Commission identified a number of factors that are 
preventing the Regulation from being applied more efficiently: 

a)   Passengers and operators are not sufficiently aware of their rights and obligations 

As the Regulation is relatively recent, members of the public are not sufficiently aware 
of it. NEBs and representatives of parties concerned indicated that many operators were 
not  aware  of  the  Regulation  when  it  was  adopted,  and  lack  of  awareness  is  still  a 
problem in certain Member States. It is therefore essential for NEBs, national and EU-
level  representative  bodies,  and  the  Commission  to  continue  to  educate  passengers 
about their rights and operators about their obligations. 

b)   Enforcement is lagging behind in some Member States  

Member States were late in taking measures to apply the Regulation. By 1 March 2013, 
the  date  on  which  the  Regulation  became  applicable,  none  of  the  Member  States  had 
adopted  all  the  national  measures  needed.  Some  Member  States  adopted  the  required 
measures with a delay of two years. 

The approach taken by NEBs to enforcing the Regulation varies widely. While some are 
very  proactive  in  informing  passengers  about  their  rights  and  monitoring  the 
Regulation’s application, others do little beyond handling complaints.   

There  are  also  significant  differences  in  the  actual  enforcement  of  passenger  rights. 
Some Member States have no alternative dispute resolution mechanism28, meaning that 
passengers  have  to  pursue  their  claims  in  court,  which  is  costly  and  time-consuming, 
and therefore discourages them from enforcing their rights. 

c)   Difficulty in interpreting certain provisions 

Some provisions in the Regulation have been interpreted differently by different NEBs 
and operators. 

The representative bodies and the NEBs agreed that the Regulation does not need to be 
amended in order to clarify these provisions, but that the Commission and NEBs should 
agree on how the provisions should be applied in practice. 

26 Some NEB reports indicate the reasons for complaints. In addition, Europe Direct Contact Centre (EDCC), a 
service  financed  by  the  Commission  which  provides  information  on  EU  law  free  of  charge  to  the  general 
public  and  businesses,  indicated  that  over  80 %  of  the  99  queries  they  received  since  the  date  on  which  the 
Regulation became applicable relate to passenger rights in the event of delay or cancellation.  

27  e.g.  if  a  passenger’s  luggage  was  lost  or  stolen  during  the  journey,  or  a  passenger  could  not  sit  in  the  seat     

he/she had reserved. 

28  According  to  Directive  2013/11/EU  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  21  May  2013  on 
alternative dispute resolution for consumer disputes (OJ L 165, 18.6.2013, p. 63) consumers resident in the EU 
should  have  access  to  alternative  dispute  resolution  procedures  for  contractual  disputes  with  EU-established 
traders, including those in the transport sector. 

10 

 
 
 
                                                            
4.2  Commission action to improve application of the Regulation 

The Commission took the following measures to address the issues identified above: 

a)   Actions to raise awareness of passengers’ rights and operators’ obligations 

In June 2013, the Commission launched a two-year information campaign on passenger 
rights for all modes of transport, including bus and coach. This included the publication 
of posters and leaflets that were distributed throughout Europe, the use of social media, 
a mobile phone application and attendance at tourism fairs. 

The  Commission  published  a  summary  of  the  Regulation,  which  is  widely  used  by 
NEBs and operators to inform passengers about their rights. 

b)   Actions to improve enforcement 

The  Commission  launched  infringement  procedures  against  Member  States  that  had 
failed to designate a national enforcement body, to lay down penalties in their national 
law  to  sanction  operators  that  breach  the  Regulation  or  to  designate  bus  and  coach 
terminals  where  passengers  with  disabilities  or  reduced  mobility  may  receive 
appropriate assistance.29 By July 2015 all the Member States had adopted the necessary 
measures and the infringement proceedings were closed. 

The Commission organised annual EU-level meetings at which NEBs and stakeholders 
could  share  their  experiences  about  the  application  of  the  Regulation  and  exchange 
details of good practice. 

In addition, the Commission provided guidance and information on good practice at the 
annual  meetings  held  with  the  NEBs,  in  order  to  improve  their  cooperation  with  one 
another. 

c)   Actions to ensure uniform application of the Regulation 

At  the  annual  meetings  with  the  NEBs  and  representative  bodies,  and through  written 
correspondence, the Commission provided clarification as to the practical application of 
several provisions in the Regulation. This has helped to ensure uniform application of 
the provisions throughout the EU30. 

5.  CONCLUSIONS AND NEXT STEPS 

In  the  light  of  the  limited  experience  of  application  of  the  Regulation  gained  to  date,  the 
Commission considers there to be no justification for amending it. 

The  stakeholders  and  the  NEBs  agree  that  several  of  the  obstacles  that  are  preventing 
passengers from enjoying  their rights or  having them enforced  can  be removed by applying 
the  current  Regulation  more  effectively.  The  Commission  is  therefore  taking  action  and 
recommending to stakeholders and NEBs as follows: 

29 Reasoned opinions were sent to Austria, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg and Portugal and letters of formal notice   

were sent to seven other Member States. 

30 The Commission clarified, for example, that in cases where the scheduled distance of a service is 250 km or 
more, the provisions of the entire Regulation should apply to all passengers, even if they travel with the service 
on a journey which is shorter than 250 km. 

11 

 
                                                            
 

The Commission organises its third information campaign between the spring of 2016 
and  the  end  of  2017  to  raise  passengers’  awareness  of  their  rights,  focusing  on  social 
media. It invites NEBs, the industry and passenger rights organisations to combine their 
efforts and to launch similar campaigns at their level. 

  NEBs are encouraged to carry out inspections of buses, coaches and terminals, inter alia 
to verify how the Regulation is being applied in practice and to educate operators about 
their  obligations  under  the  Regulation.  NEBs  are  also  encouraged  to  check  carriers’ 
homepages to ensure that they contain information on passenger rights and that general 
contract terms comply with the Regulation. 

  Member States that do not currently offer an alternative dispute resolution mechanism 
for  passenger  rights  are  encouraged  to  put  such  a  mechanism  in  place,  in  accordance 
with Directive 2013/11/EU31, so as to give passengers quicker and less expensive means 
to seek redress. 

 

 

 

 

The  Commission  will  continue  to  organise  regular  meetings  with  NEBs  and 
representative  bodies,  with  a  view  to  reaching  a  common  understanding  on  the 
interpretation and implementation of the Regulation, and to promoting cooperation and 
the sharing of experiences (relating to both difficulties encountered and good practice). 

The  Commission  will,  if  the  need  arises,  publish  general  interpretative  guidelines  to 
accompany  the  Regulation,  in  order  to  clarify  the  meaning  of  certain  provisions  (as  it 
has  done  in  the  past  for  other  transport  modes),  and/or  good  practice  documents  on 
specific  issues  (e.g. how  to  respond  better  to  the  specific  needs  of  people  with 
disabilities or reduced mobility). 

The  Commission  is  collecting  information  on  local  and  national  good  practice  for 
improving the accessibility of bus and coach transport for passengers with disabilities or 
reduced mobility. It will present these to NEBs and representative bodies at their regular 
meetings. It is also considering publishing information on good practices related to the 
transport of passengers with disabilities or reduced mobility in all modes of transport. 

The  Commission  encourages  national  and  local  authorities  and  private  investors  to 
ensure multimodal connection of bus and coaches stations and terminals to other modes,  
notably to railvays and to regional and local transport in urban nodes, in line with the 
objectives  of  the  TEN-T  Regulation32and  to  refurbish  the  existing  bus  and  coach 
terminals or build new state-of-art terminals which are also fully accessible for persons 
with  disability  or  reduced  mobility.  Such  actions  might  receive  EU  support  from  the 
funding instrument entitled  Connecting Europe Facility33 if the terminal in  question is 
located  at  the  urban  node  of  the  TEN-T  network,  or  otherwise  from  the  European 
Structural  and  Investment  Funds  which  also  support  the  development  of  collective 
transport. 

31 See footnote 28. 
32  Regulation  (EU)  No  1315/2013  on  Union  guidelines  for  the  development  of  the  trans-European  transport 

network (OJ L 348, 20.12.2013, p. 1). 

33 See for the detailed conditions for the application to Connecting Europe Facility funds Regulation (EU) No 
1315/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 on Union guidelines for the 
development  of  the  trans-European  transport  network  and  repealing  Decision  No  661/2010/EU  (OJ  L  348, 
20.12.2013,  p.1)  and  Regulation  (EU)  No  1316/2013  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  11 
December 2013 establishing the Connecting Europe Facility (OJ L 348, 20.12.2013, p. 129) 

12 

 
                                                            
 

The  Commission  encourages  Member  States  that  currently  grant  exemptions  from  the 
Regulation34  or  parts  of  it  to  review  whether,  in  the  light  of  current  experience,  it  is 
necessary to continue these exemptions. 

34 See Section 2 above. 

13