Talk around PSVAR for coaches quieted in 2022 after debut of a medium-term exemption (MTE) plan. But it will return this year through a review of the Regulations and the first milestone on the MTE journey towards full compliance for in-scope services.
What the review will mean for coach remains to be seen, but the government – which quietly revealed it two years ago – still claims that the work will report at the end of 2023.
As with recent proposals to overhaul Driver CPC, there is no way to predict what could result from the PSVAR review. There are more conflicting views on PSVAR than for DCPC. That is the case even within the industry.
The Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) will be closely involved with the review. The Committee made waves in early 2022 when articulating how it believes PSVAR should ultimately be applied to coaches.
DPTAC has a new Chair, Matthew Campbell-Hill. He is aware of the PSVAR landscape for coach and looks likely to take a pragmatic approach. Encouragingly, he notes that vehicle equipment should not be seen in isolation and that roadside infrastructure is important, a point long laboured by operators.
But Mr Campbell-Hill has underlined the Committee’s view that all coaches should eventually comply, regardless of use case. DPTAC is influential, and its views will count. PSVAR is not something that will go away, and it will be a topic of great interest when discussed at the Confederation of Passenger Transport UK Bus and Coach Conference in Birmingham on 30-31 March.
