Buses and coaches for user-friendly mobility!

Buses and coaches ensure inclusive sustainable mobility for all citizens and visitors – in the countryside as well as in urban areas. Flexibility and an understanding of the market allow private transport operators to adapt the public transport services they provide to mobility needs of the travelling public.

Key mobility enablers

As integral parts of the social fabric of communities across the world, buses and coaches are lifelines to work, education, leisure and tourism.

Without buses and coaches, many people, including those who do not or cannot drive, would face a dramatic curtailment of economic and leisure opportunities.

National education systems worldwide use bus and coach transport on a massive scale for educational trips, school bus services, sports outings, etc.

Buses and coaches also perfectly complement other transport modes, by taking commuters or travellers from their point of departure to their final destination, sometimes via the train station or the airport!

Modern information systems help passengers find the right bus or coach at the right time, and help the driver take the right route, even in foreign countries.

Socially inclusive

The quality and flexibility of bus and coach transport services as key mobility enablers is all the more crucial as they are affordable to all. This makes them the preferred transport means of low-income citizens and households.

Flexibility, reliability, quality and comfort are key features of buses and coaches. Modern, low floor buses allow for easy access and are particularly well suited to the needs of children and people with disabilities and reduced mobility.

In Europe, 50% of elderly people (50 million) do not have a car or cannot drive, and rely on buses and coaches for cultural and touristic destinations or simply run their errands. 40% of European households do not have their own car and depend on public transport, including by bus and coach, to remain mobile.

For more than 14 million rural US residents, coaches are the only available mode of public intercity transportation service, going where air and rail do not.

Comfort, quality and convenience

Modern coach fleets offer customised services to meet the demands of all kinds of commuters, shuttle services, event organisers, travellers and tourists: from small minibuses, through mid-size coaches to double-decker 80-seaters and royal class executive coaches, buses and coaches are available in the right size and in the right numbers for every occasion.

They can be equipped with air-conditioning, toilets and washrooms, CD/DVD players, hot drinks facilities, microwaves, refrigerators and wheelchair accessibility.

In Belgium, where the IRU Star Classification System was introduced for all tourist coaches, a clear overall improvement in the quality of the coach fleets was noted from 1986 to 2007. One-star coaches decreased to around 13% (from 28%) while 3-star coaches currently constitute almost 60% of the entire fleet (from 11%). The share of most comfortable 4-star coaches now exceeds 11% (from a mere 0.5%).

90% satisfaction rate

Buses and coaches are very adaptable; they are the most flexible of all collective passenger transport modes. They take customers directly to destination, with no waiting times or need to change vehicles. They can even pick you up from your front door.

Industry surveys regularly indicate a high customer satisfaction rate: 89% of all bus and coach travellers in the UK and 91% of all coach travellers in Germany were satisfied or very satisfied with their coach trip.

Buses and coaches are a User-Friendly Move!

Find out which policy measures should be implemented to make buses and coaches user-friendlier.