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MOTORINDIA
l
August 2012
The 15-member strong EU pub-
lic-private Smart Move High Level
Group (HLG), composed of repre-
sentatives of the EU institutions, op-
erators, representative associations
and other mobility and civil society
stakeholders, recently met to review
how to significantly boost inter-city
regular lines by bus and coach in the
European Union.
The meeting focused on how this
objective could be achieved through
legislation, taxation, infrastructure,
and modern communication tools,
while considering city-related chal-
lenges affecting inter-city and in-
ternational regular lines by bus and
coach. Specific emphasis was placed
on user’s needs and the necessity to
provide more and affordable mobili-
ty opportunities to European citizens
and alternatives to car drivers.
The President of Eurolines and
member of the Smart Move HLG,
Mr. John Gilbert, said: “As one of
the leading European mobility serv-
ice providers, I am pleased that cus-
tomers’ needs formed the focus of
the group’s debate. The High Level
Group is an excellent opportunity
to bring together diverse interest
groups, including passenger repre-
sentatives, operators, disabled peo-
ples’ representatives, and European
Institutions, to engage in in-depth
discussions on long distance coach
services and find ways of doubling
their use and propose concrete steps
for legislative change. My thanks
to the IRU for having initiated this
High Level Group.”
According to the Secretary Gen-
eral of the Swedish Bus and Coach
Federation and member of the Smart
Move HLG, Anna Grönlund, expe-
rience in Sweden shows that dou-
bling the use of bus and coach is a
realistic objective.
The next Smart Move HLG meet-
ing will take place on September 27
and focus on the topic of group tour-
ism by coach. All interested public
and private stakeholders and citizens
are invited to make comments and
submit proposals to the High Level
Group on the three main topics to be
discussed by making use of the dedi-
cated facility on the HLG webpage,
part of the Smart Move website.
w
international
HLG concretely identified three key ar-
eas that need to be addressed if more
people are to be attracted to use long-
distance coach services. These are lack
of, and access by bus and coach opera-
tors to terminals, bus priority meas-
ures such as dedicated bus lanes, and
information technology systems.