Equal passenger rights on all modes of transport

MEPs voted in first reading on a report by Gabriele Albertini (EPP-ED, IT) on rights of bus and coach passengers (557 votes in favour, 30 against, 23 abstentions) and a report by Michel Teychenné (PES, FR) on the rights of passengers travelling by sea and inland waterway (587 votes in favour, 8 against, 19 abstentions).

 

 

Maritime transport companies will have to provide passengers with information as well as compensation if a journey is interrupted, as follows:

 

- 25% of the ticket price for a delay in arrival of between one and two hours;

- 50% of the ticket price for a delay in arrival of two hours or more;

- 100% of the ticket price if the carrier does not provide another transport service under reasonable conditions or information about alternative transport.

 

 

If alternative transportation is not provided, the bus or coach company would have to pay compensation of 150% of the ticket price. For passengers who choose to accept the alternative services offered, MEPs insisted that companies should still have to pay compensation of 50% of the ticket price.

 

However, bus and coach companies will be exempted from these compensation payments if they can prove that the cancellation or delay was due to circumstances not connected with their business, which they could not have avoided, or to passenger negligence.

 

MEPs insisted on making bus and coach companies liable for overbooking as well as cancellations and delays of more than 2 hours.

 

 

If a passenger is injured or dies as the result of a bus or coach accident, the transport company must pay within fifteen days an advance on the compensation in proportion to the harm suffered. In the event of death, the advance payment may not be less than €21,000.

 

To protect small road transport firms, MEPs ensured that the regulation does not require companies to pay if the accident was caused by circumstances beyond their control. Advance payments will have to be made only if "there is prima facie evidence of causality attributable to the transport undertaking".

 

 

MEPs agreed to take account of the specific nature of water transport, defining cases of force majeure where the compensation rules would not apply: extreme tidal conditions, strong winds, significant wave heights and formation of ice, but also nationalisation, government sanction, blockage, embargo, labour disputes, strikes, lockout or electricity cuts.

 

Bus and coach companies should not be held liable for damage if it is caused by circumstances not connected with the operation of their services and which they could not have avoided, MEPs insisted.

 

 

People with reduced mobility may not be refused the right to board a ship, bus or coach except where their safety would be endangered. MEPs voted to ensure that the disability of a passenger cannot be used as a reason for denying them the right to board.

 

Free assistance must be given to disabled people in ports on condition that the carrier, the ticket vendor or the tour operator is notified of the passenger’s need for assistance when the reservation is made or at least 48 hours before boarding.

 

The staff of a maritime transport company must receive adequate information in order to be able to provide assistance.

 

Bus and coach operators would have to provide specific training to their personnel enabling them to properly assist disabled people.

 

MEPs added a clause requiring companies to provide passengers with written confirmation of the assistance that will be provided.

 

Clauses obliging transport companies to accommodate assistance dogs on board passenger ships, buses and coaches were also included in the legislation, thanks to Parliament's amendments.

 

 

MEPs agreed that Member States should be allowed to exclude urban and suburban maritime transport services from the regulation's scope.

 

Similarly, for bus and coach transport, MEPs voted to allow Member States to exclude urban, suburban and regional services, arguing that these systems, which are usually public services, have distinctive features such as no advance reservations, use of daily, weekly and monthly tickets.

 

However, MEPs insist that special measures to guarantee passengers' rights on these services must be taken by individual Member States.