Remove Red Tape

Buses & taxis

The regulations for buses and taxis control road based public transport operations and the services they provide, including regulations giving operators the right to run services and regulations controlling concessionary fares and other charges.

You can find all the regulations that relate to buses and taxis below to the left.

Tell us what you think should happen to these regulations and why, being specific where possible:

• Should we scrap them altogether?
• Could their purpose be achieved in a non-regulatory way (eg through a voluntary code?) How?
• Could they be reformed, simplified or merged? How?
• Can we reduce their bureaucracy through better implementation? How?
• Can we make their enforcement less burdensome? How?
• Should they be left as they are?

297 comments on “Buses & taxis”

1. mark gough on June 17, 2011 at 7:52 am said:

   question how many local taxi districts have given grandfather rights to the dsa test ?. question grade 2 medical is it right that council hold such personel information. question with a 100% wav policy what do people with movement issues do, we as a trade should cater for everyone. mixed fleets to cater for everybody…
2. MARK GOUGH on June 17, 2011 at 7:23 am said:

   I AM A TAXI DRIVER [text deleted], WE DO NEED RULES AND REGULATIONS TO FOLLOW, BUT I FEEL THAT LOCAL UNELECTED AND ELECTED PEOPLE IN THE COUNCIL, WHO HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRADE FROM DAY TO DAY WORKING, BUT HAVE READ A BOOK (BUTTONS BIBLE) AND THINK THEY ARE EXPERTS, SADLY I MUST INFORM THEY ARE WRONG, THEY SHOULD BE TAKING ON BOARD MORE KNOWLEDGE FROM THE TRADE , WORKING WITH US INSTEAD OF IMPOSING REGULATIONS THAT ARE POINTLESS AND ARE DESTROYING THE TRADE IN THIS HARSH TIME, ARE LLD KEEP INFORMING US THAT THEY HAVE CUTBACKS AND HAVE SO MUCH TO DO, WE ARE PAYING FOR FEES AND EXPECT THE SAME SERVICE, MAYBE THERE IS TO MUCH RED TAPE…
3. J.luca on June 16, 2011 at 10:16 pm said:

   With regard to taxi regulations it would appear that these need updating. however in order for this to work the updating needs to be done by council officials who have experience of the trade both in terms of driving and company management. There has been a number of court cases costing thousands in legal fees all because council officials were duped by certain disability groups, leading them to believe there was a requirement for all hackney carriages to be able to carry disabled persons whilst seated in their wheelchairs. research has shown that only 8% of people with disabilities have a wheelchair. The largest disabled group , those with walking difficulties prefer to lower themselves into a standard saloon type taxi as they find the floors too high in the wheelchair accessible taxis .Had council officials [text deleted] had experience of the trade they would have known this. Fortunately the Chief Executive saw fit to put the issue out to wider consultation resulting in a balanced mixture of both saloon and wheelchair accessible taxis.
   My second point is with regard to pollution. car manufacturers have made giant strides in recent years improving the fuel economy of vehicles. If the government is serious about reducing pollution then they need to deal with utility companies who dig up the roads and take an inordinate amount of time to do the work they are there to do. it is my understanding they pay the local authorities the same amount whether they are there for two weeks or two months. It is common knowledge that there is more often than not either nobody working or just a token workforce in place. This is an opportunity for cash strapped councils to increase their revenue by drastically increasing the fee payable the longer the utility companies are there. how much additional pollution is created by the unnecessary clogging of major routes ?l
   • m gough on June 17, 2011 at 8:00 am said:

     well said…
4. Mike Lambden on June 16, 2011 at 8:41 pm said:

   At the very least scheduled coach services such be able to use bus lanes and other bus priorities. This is generally the case but there are some locations where this is not allowed due to the way in which local bye laws have been written. Ideally all coaches should be able to use bus priorities provided that they do not interfere with the smooth running of scheduled bus and coach services.

   Bus lanes need effective enforcement if they are to deliver true benefits. Unauthorised vehicles parked in them can cause buses to move out of the lanes which actually delays all traffic.
5. Simon Warburton on June 16, 2011 at 8:20 pm said:

   Submitted on behalf of Transport for Greater Manchester

   Bus Lane contraventions
   We would recommend that the Greater Manchester Combined Authority is added to the schedule of approved local authorities to enable the development of a more efficient Greater Manchester enforcement regime which would be more consistent more transparent to the public.
6. JUNE SHELDON on June 16, 2011 at 5:42 pm said:

   Why is it that every commercial or professional bu, coach and minibus driver has to hold the appropriate driving licence when working but schoolteachers and voluntary groups can get away without havng to hold a driving licence – yes I know the legislation if loosley interpreted allows for this but in whose world does teachers driving a bus full os children to activities constitute good raod safety when they have never taken a test to drive the vehicle. The professional driver has to take a driving test and now undergo periodic training under the driver CPC – they do this for a reason becasue they are maintaining safe driving standards – I want children to be safe – the current Education Minister wants any old teacher driving a minibus and no restrictions – of course until there is another nasty accident like that one in the 90s when around 11 childen being drien by a teacher died in an accident on the motorway.n
7. John on June 16, 2011 at 4:03 pm said:

   The Public Service Vehicles (Drivers’ Licences) Regulations, although updating legislation dating back to 1934, contain provisions now largely also superseded. It is considered that some provisions are already enshrined in other Regulations and remain relevant , but much of this is now superfluous and can be deleted.
8. John on June 16, 2011 at 4:01 pm said:

   The Public Service Vehicles (Conditions of Fitness, Equipment, Use and Certification) Regulations sett out type approval processes, the design parameters to which buses and coaches must conform, how they must be maintained and operated for public use. It is likely that there is scope for simplification, particularly due to the overlap with the PSVAR Regulations and the parallel process of EU Whole Vehicle Type Approval under the European Bus Directive (not cited on the website). There are discrepancies between the EU Whole Vehicle Type Approval and UK series type approval, and given that certain vehicles can and others cannot be put through the EU process, this can lead to illogicalities such as the requirement to fit a suspension driver’s seat to a twin-door vehicle, but not to an otherwise identical single door bus. We would seek to have such anomalies rectified. Further complication is added by the VOSA documents “Categorisation of Defects” and “Guide to Maintaining Roadworthiness – Commercial Goods and Passenger Carrying Vehicles, the former weighing in at over 200 pages. We suggest a comprehensive review with an aim to deletion of the multiplicity of documents, integration with emerging EU legislation and streamlining and alignment of the various areas of actual and potential duplication, whilst maintaining the principles of safety and passenger security.
9. John on June 16, 2011 at 3:58 pm said:

   The opportunities granted by the Local Services (Operation by Licensed Hire Cars) Regulations have not been taken up to any significant extent and therefore given this lack of usage their ongoing value is called into question
10. John on June 16, 2011 at 3:54 pm said:

    The Public Service Vehicle (Lost Property) Regulations could perhaps be deleted; It is in the interests of any operator to assist passengers with lost articles and indeed this should be part of their general business obligations. The regulation is probably superfluous but perhaps helpful in controlling less responsible operators.
11. John on June 16, 2011 at 3:51 pm said:

    The Operation of Public Servive Vehicles (Partnership) Regulations and both sets of Public Service Vehicles Qualifications Regulations may now be superseded by the Practice Directions issued by the Traffic Commissioner, and the implementation of the EC Road Transport Package, which were subject to the recent public consultation exercise. Suggest that these could be deleted provided they are enshrined in the revised Traffic Commissioner documentation.
12. Sue Reynolds on June 16, 2011 at 3:32 pm said:

    Cities such as London have imposed a limit to particulate emissions with their LEZ initiaitve. In 2012 the permitted limits of these pollutants are being reduced still further for only some of the vehicles which serve the city – there are no such limits for private cars, boat, trains or planes.
    The modifications which have to be made to achieve the reduction in particulates cause the engines to use signifiantly more fuel and thereby to produce more carbon dioxide. The consequence is that the new levels to be introduced in 2012 will have a minimal effect on the levels of some pollutants but will result in a significant increase in the amounts of other pollutants (carbon dioxide) being released into the atmosphere.
    Before towns and cities are permitted to impose further LEZ restrictions they must be obliged to carry out proper research to quantify the full effects of all the pollutants generated paying attention to the engineering necessity that the reduction of one pollutant will cause an increase in another.
    If towns and cities are to be permitted to to introduce local LEZ areas these must be applied to all vehicles entering or passingover the area, it is unreasonable to expect on form of transportation to bear the cost of this legislation while others are unaffected