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

The committee adopted the report by Mr Bill MILLER (PES, UK) amending the Council's common position under the codecision procedure (2nd reading). The amendments were mainly designed to enable continued manufacture of existing low-floor buses with a gangway slope of 12.5%, and to provide better facilities for such passengers, especially wheelchair users. Another amendment sought to reinstate Parliament's position at 1st reading by introducing a broader definition of "persons of reduced mobility", to include not just the elderly and the disabled, as laid down in the common position, but all people who experienced 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 parents with children (including children in pushchairs). Lastly, the committee wanted the text of the proposal to stipulate that all sloping areas should be provided with a non-slip surface.