FENEBUS – Spanish Federation of Transport by Bus

C / Orense 20 28020 Madrid Phone: (+34) 91 555 20 93 Email: info@fenebus.es

Website: www.fenebus.es

FENEBUS’ CONTRIBUTION TO THE EU HIGH LEVEL GROUP TO DOUBLE THE NUMBER OF USERS OF BUSES AND COACHES

FENEBUS, the Spanish Federation of Transport by Bus is a passenger transport’s senior organization in Spain. FENEBUS is nowadays the most representative association of its sector (transport by bus and coach) in Spain. FENEBUS represents almost 77% of the regular services in Spain, about 27% of the occasional services, 61,55% of all bus stations in Spain and more than 21% of the urban services in the country.

FENEBUS is composed by 34 sectorial and territorial associations, as well as by 273 companies which are direct members. Thus, it represents more than 2,713 companies which provides passenger transport services, have a fleet of more than 18,613 vehicles, have a turnover of more than 2,000 million euros / year and directly employ about 30,000 workers.

In view of the newly established EU High Level Group to double the number of users of buses and coaches and in order to achieve that objective, FENEBUS would like to make the following

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Equal treatment between transport modes is not only fair but also profitable. Citizens have

the right to a decent transport service and quality, but the EU Member States must ensure

the efficiency of all transport investments.

2. Member States should engage themselves in the promotion of buses and coaches, since

they are the most sustainable mode of transport from the economic, social and

environmental points of view.

3. Tourism and occasional services are fundamental pillars for maintaining and increasing

tourism. Therefore, it is necessary to foster and promoting its consistency in terms of

economy, profits and stability.

4. The construction of platforms reserved for bus access to cities is a simple, cheap and

effective way to remove bottlenecks and to ensure a high quality transport that meets the

main expectations of users, such as frequency and length of the trip.

5. The EU actions on transport must take into account the differences of the 27 national

transport systems.

6. The last recently adopted EU initiatives do not meet their goals due to a lack of prior

harmonization in the framework of the Member States.

7. The regions of the EU must lead the transport policies in a realistic way, which means not

only environmental sustainability but also economic management models.

8. The creation of a EU single transport market requires the agreement on transport policies

between all relevant authorities at different levels.

FENEBUS – Spanish Federation of Transport by Bus

C / Orense 20 28020 Madrid Phone: (+34) 91 555 20 93 Email: info@fenebus.es

Website: www.fenebus.es

9. Equal treatment of investors in transport infrastructure across all modes in terms of efficiency, social benefits and number of passengers is needed. In this sense, road transport needs bus/HOV lanes, reserved platforms for buses in access to cities, discouraging park and ride locations for private vehicles outside the city, transport interchanges and bus stations to improve the quality levels of transport services by bus and coach.

10. To boost co-modality and intermodality to make a better use of transport infrastructure and networks.

11. To reduce the administrative burdens for road transport businesses, since many of those burdens are ineffective and mean unnecessary costs for businesses.

12. To make social and image campaigns to promote buses and coaches nationwide.

13. Greater involvement of EU Member States, regions and local authorities in the solutions required for occasional and special regular services, especially in aspects such as: the size of companies in the sector; unfair competition; the imbalance between supply and demand; cooperation amongst transport carriers; training; excessive and changing legislation; legal security and longer length of contracts; and hiring formulas adapted to these kind of services.

14. The development of yield management systems in order to have flexible rates and increase economic efficiency and a better management of the transport demand.

15. The development of partnerships that allow operators to commercialize services closer to citizens and further development of joint-operations to superimposed traffics from different routes prior agreements between companies (codeshare agreements).

16. To increase business concentration in order to allow greater synergies, more professionalization and the internationalization of companies.

17. An evolution of the regulatory framework towards a greater consideration of the role of buses and coaches in the EU transport system.

18. Greater flexibility in the legal framework for buses and coaches.

19. Intermodal policies to facilitate the construction of bus terminals at airports, intermodal facilities, combined tickets with other transport modes, etc.20. To improve bus terminals and stops.

20. The substitution of poor rail services by more efficient new approaches based on road transport.

21. Active policies to promote public transport in order to meet the objectives for a sustainable mobility:

• Transport plans for companies;

• To use promotion campaigns as an opportunity, for example to change the mobility behaviour of young generations to use public transport; and

• Favourable tax treatment with the lowest external costs possible (green tax).

FENEBUS – Spanish Federation of Transport by Bus

C / Orense 20 28020 Madrid Phone: (+34) 91 555 20 93 Email: info@fenebus.es

Website: www.fenebus.es

22. To keep the figure of commercial diesel for road transport businesses.

23. To set the same VAT levels for all modes of transport.