Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a separate regulatory structure for coach services.

The UK coach sector was deregulated by the Transport Act 1980 and services are operated on a commercial basis without receiving government funding. Where coaches provide local bus services, they may be required to comply with the relevant legislation governing those services. Operation of buses and coaches requires a Public Service Vehicle Operator’s Licence and there are currently no plans for a separate regulatory structure for the operation of coaches.