Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003

Prospective

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These Regulations apply to single-deck and double-deck buses and to single-deck and double-deck coaches with a capacity of more than twenty-two passengers which are used to provide scheduled services (“regulated public service vehicles”). The Regulations, which are enacted under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, are intended to ensure that disabled people can get on and off a regulated public service vehicle in safety and without unreasonable difficulty and, in the case of wheelchair users, can do so whilst remaining in their wheelchairs. They are also intended to ensure that disabled people are carried in these vehicles in safety and reasonable comfort. The Regulations recognise the impact on the bus industry, to both manufacturers and operators, which their provisions will have, particularly with respect to accessibility to smaller buses and high floor coaches, by providing for a phased implementation of their requirements.

The principal features are as follows.

1.  The detailed technical requirements to be met by regulated public service vehicles are contained in three schedules. Schedule 1 sets out the wheelchair accessibility requirements and Schedules 2 and 3 deal with the general accessibility requirements for buses and coaches respectively. Among these requirements are provisions in Schedule 1 for the benefit of passengers in wheelchairs dealing with such matters as wheelchair spaces (paragraph 2), boarding lifts and ramps (paragraph 5), entrances and exits (paragraph 6), gangways (paragraph 7), communication devices (paragraph 9) and lighting (paragraph 10) and in Schedules 2 and 3 for such additional matters as steps (paragraph 4), handrails (paragraph 5) and kneeling systems (paragraphs 7 and 6 respectively). N.I.

2.  Regulation 3 applies the requirements of these Schedules to the various types of public service vehicle according to the date when they are first used. New buses weighing more than 7.5 tonnes and new double-deck buses must comply with both Schedules 1 and 2 from 31st August 2003 and all such buses which are in use must meet these requirements from 1st September 2018 and 2019 respectively. New buses weighing 7.5 tonnes or less and new coaches must from 31st August 2003 comply with Schedules 2 or 3 respectively until 1st September 2007, after which new vehicles of these kinds must also comply with Schedule 1. All these regulated public service vehicles must meet the wheelchair accessibility requirements and those of the appropriate general accessibility requirements if in use after 1st September 2017 (for buses weighing 7.5 tonnes or less) or 1st September 2022 (for coaches). There is an exception in the case of regulated public service vehicles that are manufactured before 1st June 2003 and 1st June 2007; they are not required to comply with the requirements of the relevant Schedules unless and until they are in use on or after 1st September in either 2017 or 2018 or 2019 or 2022 as appropriate. N.I.

3.  Regulation 4 exempts certain vehicles from the Regulations as well as providing for a delay until 1st September 2006 in the application of two requirements, in Schedule 1 (boarding ramps) and in Schedule 3 (illumination of side route and destination displays). N.I.

4.  Regulations 6 to 8 (Part III) contains provisions relating to the issue of accessibility certificates and regulations 9 to 12 (Part IV) set out provisions with respect to the obtaining of a type vehicle approval. Regulations 13 and 14 (Part V) deal with declarations of conformity to a type vehicle and in regulations 15 to 17 (Part VI) are set out the provisions relating to conformity certificates. N.I.

5.  Regulations 18 and 19 (Part VII) deal with the issue of duplicate documentation and with reviews and appeals. N.I.

6.  Schedules 4 to 6 set out the information to be contained in the accessibility certificate and the form of the declaration of conformity and the conformity certificate. N.I.

These Regulations have been notified to the European Commission pursuant to European Parliament and Council Directive 98/34/EC of 22nd June 1998 (O.J. No. L204, 21.7.98, p. 37) as amended by European Parliament and Council Directive 98/48/EC of 20th July 1998 (O.J. No. L217, 5.8.98, p.18) laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards regulations and of rules on Information Society services.

Copies of the EEC and EC Directives and ECE Regulations referred to in these Regulations may be obtained from TSO, 16 Arthur Street, Belfast BT1 4GD.