The Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations 2000
These Regulations apply to single-deck and double-deck buses and to single-deck and double-deck coaches with a capacity of more than twenty-two passengers which are used to provide local and scheduled services (“regulated public service vehicles”). The Regulations, which are enacted under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, are intended to ensure that disabled people can get on and off a regulated public service vehicle in safety and without unreasonable difficulty and, in the case of wheelchair users, can do so whilst remaining in their wheelchairs. They are also intended to ensure that disabled people are carried in these vehicles in safety and reasonable comfort. The Regulations recognise the impact on the bus industry, to both manufacturers and operators, which their provisions will have, particularly with respect to accessibility to smaller buses and high floor coaches, by providing for a phased implementation of their requirements.