Carriage of passengers: vehicles comprising more than 8 seats or maximum length 15m (amend. direct. 70/156/EEC)

PURPOSE : to adopt harmonised provisions concerning the specifications applicable to buses and coaches. COMMUNITY MEASURE : Directive 2001/85/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council relating to special provisions for vehicles used for the carriage of passengers comprising of more than eight seats in addition to the driver's seat, amending Directives 70/156/EEC and 97/27/EC. CONTENT : the principal aim of this Directive is to guarantee the safety of passengers and to provide technical prescriptions to allow accessiblity for persons of reduced mobility, in particular wheelchair users, to the vehicles covered by the Directive. It provides amongst other things: - the fitting of non-slip surfaces on all sloping areas; - the obligation for all buses in urban transport to be required to have a kneeling system in conjunction with either a ramp or a lift in order to guarantee in all circumstances full access for wheelchair users, in particular where the pavement is not level with floor of the bus. There is a broad definition of "persons of reduced mobility" to include not just the elderly and the disabled but all people who experience some difficulty when using public transport, such as people with sensory and intellectual impairments, wheelchair users, people with limb impairments, people of small stature, people with heavy luggage, pregnant women, people with shopping trolleys and people with children (including children in pushchairs). ENTRY INTO FORCE : 13/02/2002. DATE OF TRANSPOSITION : 13/08/2003.�