Coinciding with World Tourism Day, celebrated on September 27, CONFEBUS wants to value one of the segments of bus transport less traditionally attended – perhaps because of its unregulated nature – discretionary and tourist transport. This modality of public transport grew by 7% last July with respect to the same month of 2018, surpassing 22 million travelers as the latest data published by the INE.

its strategic importance is very relevant, due to its link between other activities to the tourism sector, the first national industry. So, the promotion of discretionary bus transportation could contribute very effectively both to the public policy objectives of emission reduction and to greater competitiveness of the tourism offer, since it mitigates the last mile problems and overcomes the rigidities present in other modes. Therefore, a battery of promotional measures, among others, could be the following:

1. Like other leisure-related sectors – hotels, restaurants – discretionary bus services should incorporate harmonized classification systems that allow to establish a ranking by vehicles based on the benefits they offer and the levels of safety, comfort and quality they have. This would facilitate transparency between operators and customers, travel agencies, vehicle manufacturers and authorities and encourage greater quality competition.

2. Establish a common framework so that local and municipal authorities coordinate in a coordinated way the contribution of the bus to tourism, economy and sustainable development of cities. It is necessary to eliminate restrictions on access to discretionary services, as well as to increase the extent of stops in places of tourist interest and parking areas reserved for buses that transport groups of tourists from one city to another. On the other hand, multilingual information available to operators and drivers is required when traveling through other countries in Europe.

3. Reduce barriers in the internal market for international services, such as the elimination of obstacles to displacement for drivers of international, fiscal and administrative services that hinder the organization and provision of services.

Four. Need for specific auxiliary infrastructure. These services lack in many sites of stations or spaces adjacent to the main train stations, ports or airports where they pick up an important number of tourists who arrive in the city in another mode of transport but who rent bus services for excursions, escapes, sports and cultural activities or guided tours.

5. Flexibility of social regulations, in full respect of the highest standards of health and safety at work, as well as quality of life, since, being services offered and aimed at leisure, it is difficult to apply the same rules on the organization of driving times and periods of driving. rest than regular services with itineraries, schedules and number of predetermined daily expeditions.



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