Results of 2008/9 European Commission study
Challenges and opportunities for the future
Prepared for:
IRU
1 March 2012
Prepared by:
Steer Davies Gleave
28-32 Upper Ground
London, SE1 9PD
+44 (0)20 7919 8500
www.steerdaviesgleave.com
The European Coach Market
1
Passenger Transport by Coach in Europe
Ι The European Commission required a thorough review and analysis focussing on
passenger transport by coach across Europe
Ι This consisted of
■ Collection and analysis of coach sector data, including for cabotage
services
■ Analysis of coach accident data
■ Analysis of the role of terminal infrastructure
■ Case study of the 12-day rule on driver rest days
Ι Steer Davies Gleave is an independent consultancy working worldwide across
the transport sector
Ι We carried out this study in 2008/9 with a team based in our London, Bologna
and Madrid offices, supported by the Vehicle Safety Research Centre in the UK,
and by sub-consultants in central Europe
The European Coach Market
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Contents
Ι Context – legislation
Ι Statistical summary
Ι Issues:
Cabotage
■ Access to terminals
■
Ι Opportunities
The European Coach Market
Context – European legislation
Ι Less European legislation applying to the bus or coach sectors than rail
or air
Ι Distinction between domestic and international regulation,
international occasional market liberalised in the EU and regular
international liberalised subject to national authorisation
Ι Requirements on international carriage of passengers within the EU are
defined in EC Regulation 1093/2009
Ι Regulation 561/2006 also sets out rules on driving times, breaks and
rest periods
Ι Regulation 181/2011 now defines passenger rights including
if services delayed or cancelled
■ passengers with reduced mobility (PRMs)
■
The European Coach Market
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Context - Market organisation
Ι Significant variation in regulatory arrangements in different States
Ι Study focussed on 8 States with different market structures
Member
State
Regulated –
restricted
Germany

Greece

Regulated –
concessions
Deregulated
Italy
 partly
Poland
 partly
Romania

Spain

Sweden

UK

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Statistics - Introduction
Ι Coach and bus are grouped together in most national statistics
No consistent definition of coach services
■ Definition used determined by the approach taken by each Member State
■ Where a particular approach has a big impact on the statistics we have
noted this
■
Ι For States where data is not readily available, extrapolated based on
data from other Member States
Ι Some factors affect the statistics significantly, e.g. school transport:
UK, France, Spain, Sweden and Ireland all contract special regular
services that significantly affect number of passenger journeys.
■ Some EU citizens take the majority of their lifetime coach journeys
whilst at school
■
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Coach demand against GDP
Ι However, coach travel is
growing, albeit slower than
GDP, in some western
European States (France, UK,
Spain)
Ι This suggests that an
increasing propensity to travel
by all modes may increase the
volume of coach travel, but
probably not market share
Coach passenger-kilometres per capita
Ι Coach travel is higher in the lowest income States. Increased incomes over time in
these States can lead to:
■ Greater car ownership
■ Greater ability to afford to fly
■ Possible higher investment in competing rail services/infrastructure
1,400
1,200
1,000
800
600
400
200
0
0
50
100
150
200
GDP per capita (EU27=100)
The European Coach Market
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Coach market share against other modes of transport
Ι Turkey and Bulgaria - high levels of bus and coach travel reflect low levels of car use
Ι Germany and France, high rail share impacts on coach. The reverse is true in Greece
Ι France – coach is higher than in reality as some bus classified as coach
Coach
Bus
Rail, tram & metro
Cars
Norway
Germany
United Kingdom
Lithuania
France
Denmark
Netherlands
Portugal
Spain
Czech Republic
Greece
Bulgaria
Turkey
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Market share
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Proportion of coach journeys that are international
Ι In most member states, the vast majority of coach journeys are domestic
Ι The main exceptions are Austria and Germany, which both have large
markets for outbound international coach tours, and have very little
domestic regular markets
Hungary
Finland
Czech Republic
UK
Norway
Slovakia
Lithuania
Greece
Austria
Germany
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
% of coach journeys international
The European Coach Market
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Fares
Ι Coach fares are generally lower (sometimes significantly so) than rail
Member State
Coach fares relative to rail
Sweden, UK and Germany*
Significantly lower (by ~50%) than rail
Romania
Lower than rail
Greece, Italy and Poland
Similar to rail
Spain
-Significantly lower than High Speed rail
where this exists
-Similar to rail fares on other routes
* where regular services permitted
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Summary of estimates
Total EU
Passenger-kilometres (millions)
Vehicle-kilometres (millions)
Passenger journeys (millions)
Fleet size
Employees (bus & coach)
Annual turnover (€ millions)
The European Coach Market
All States
262,983
540,512
10,134
19,899
6,621
7,584
248,897
445,715
1,546,955
2,255,445
15,425
23,560
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Issues: Cabotage
Ι Cabotage is defined as the operation of services within a Member
State without having a registered office in that State
Ι In 2008/9, in the majority of the case study countries, the level of
cabotage services was very low and does not have a significant impact
on the transport market
Ι Regulation 1093/2009 expands the scope of cabotage operations
permitted
if part of a regular international service, cabotage no longer has to be
‘temporary’
■ removes the right of States to apply safeguard measures
■
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Issues: Access to terminals
Ι Good terminal infrastructure can facilitate the development of the
market by providing services such as:
Quality of customer service and facilities for passengers
■ Efficient scheduling of departure slots
■
Ι Access to terminals not relevant if market access itself is restricted
(eg. Germany, Greece)
Ι In some other States terminal access may be a problem:
Poland: PPKS (State) companies own and operate services at Warsaw and
other terminals
■ Spain: Access guaranteed for domestic, but Madrid terminal operator
fined €450k for anti-competitive abuse on international
■
Ι Integrated ticket sales desk may help reduce costs (if neutral)
The European Coach Market
Opportunities – Liberalisation?
Ι Study did not recommend particular market or regulatory structures
Ι Liberalisation of regular services has a range of potential benefits:
more services
■ more competition
■ greater cost efficiency
■ lower fares
■
Ι Some potential disadvantages:
reduced potential for transport integration
■ reduced co-ordination of services
■
Ι No equivalent disadvantages to liberalisation of occasional services
Ι Clarifying the meaning of “temporary” cabotage in the existing
legislation could reduce the scope for Member States adopting their
own, overly restrictive, interpretations
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Opportunities – Help governments reduce subsidy?
Ι Regular coach services often do not need any subsidy despite offering
lower fares than rail
Ι Some EU governments have announced cuts to rail services due to
lack of funds (Greece, Portugal)
Ι Could coach be an alternative for medium/long distance routes?
Ι Likely to be particularly attractive where:
Lower volume services (rail needs high volume to be cost-efficient)
■ Poor rail infrastructure
■ Good road infrastructure
■ Integrated into other transport systems
■
The European Coach Market
Thank you
The European Coach Market
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