Transport Act needs change, says RHA Coaches
RHA Coaches has warned that the problem of BODS being demanded for home-to-school services is only a symptom of the need complete separation of the regulatory structures for local bus services and deregulated coach services.
Andy Warrender, RHA Operations Manager – Coaches, said that coach operators are still being targeted by enforcement of BODS despite the fact that sharing school bus timings with the public has no purpose and may, in fact, be a safeguarding risk.
“There’s a parallel with PSVAR – issuing exemption after exemption is not the answer” – Andy Warrender, RHA Operations Manager – Coaches
“The root of the problem is the definition of ‘local services’ which encompasses many home-to-school buses. My concern is that, as bus services are franchised and effectively in public control, new regulations will come into play which will once again apply to closed-door coach services like home-to-school,” he said.

Andy Warrender
“There’s a parallel with PSVAR – issuing exemption after exemption is not the answer. The only way to free up closed door coach services from ‘regulation creep’, i.e. from them being caught in regulation intended for public transport, is to separate the regulatory structures for both completely”
- Andy said that RHA Coaches has been receiving significant numbers of queries regarding the change in drivers’ hours while in Europe.
The reversion to AETR rules last December removed the need for a Smart 2 tachograph, although many operators had spent huge sums of money upgrading from digital or analogue tachos. Now, they find that they weren’t necessary: “In terms of driving hours, AETR is no different to the EU rules and I don’t think good operators had too much trouble reviewing their driving times in Europe. But they had five working days’ notice and now find that they didn’t need Smart 2, which may have costed up to £2,500 per vehicle.
“Our other concern is that, with trucks and EU based coaches still on EU hours, whether the enforcement agencies in the EU are up to speed.”