A UK transport minister has urged closer co-operation between manufacturers and operators to allow passenger carrying vehicles to meet onerous targets and deadlines for compliance.
Addressing delegates at the Bus and Coach Engineering Conference, UK Under Secretary of State for Transport Norman Baker, highlighted the challenges faced by operators to meet legislative deadlines and the need for manufacturers to help meet them.
The conference was organised by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), Institute of Road Transport Engineers (IRTE), a professional sector of the SOE (Society of Operations Engineers), and Passengerfta (collection of services for PCV operators).
Lawrie Alford, Strategic Business Manager for Passengerfta, said: “The pressure is on the passenger industry to meet deadlines, whether they are in meeting Euro 6 emissions targets or in providing ‘fully accessible’ vehicles.
“It is encouraging this pressure has been acknowledged by government and Passengerfta would certainly concur with the minister our manufacturers will need to work with our operators to ensure deadlines are met and not at the expense of the industry.
“The need for manufacturers to ‘think maintenance’ when producing new vehicles is clearly a huge concern for operators.”
