(29 Dec 2019, 11:41 am)Dan wrote To be fair, you didn't have to look far in the trade press, to see this matter being debated, in the months leading up to today.

Initial guidance from the DfT was open to interpretation, which muddied the waters. It was originally suggested that school services which do not take any fares (and hence are not registered bus services that claim BSOG etc), and are instead paid for by an alternate means (either by a local authority or directly from a school), did not have to conform to PSVAR.

If you, as a small business with relatively low profits, did not have to go to the expense of replacing your fleet with newer vehicles which do conform to PSVAR, why would you? Many of these small operators just about cover their costs and provide a small number of people with a wage, and it's Private Hires (school trips to the baths etc) that contribute towards the greater profits of the business.


Some trade press articles to have a read of:
https://cbwmagazine.com/dft-announce-a-t...-services/
https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/mi...ation-law/
https://app.croneri.co.uk/feature-articl...ules-apply

That's exactly the issue facing many operators in the Tees Valley, in that many school services are paid for by parents either directly to the operator or through the school. It was presumed by many operators that any school service, as Dan says, wasn't registered didn't therefore have to comply to PSVAR. There's been a clause for a while that any service carrying a group of passengers to one point (eg a school/college), organised and advertised by another entity (eg a school/college) and paying one flat fare (eg most school/college services) don't have to be registered and that's what a lot of services run under.
It's only recently (in last few months) come to light that all of these services will have to comply which hasn't left much time to bring in vehicles required. There has already been a few school services dropped that will leave kids stranded, such as Carmel College (through Darlington Council, operated by Enterprise Travel) and Nunthorpe School (Compass Royston). Expect you'll see more and more kids being stranded if this is enforced as tenders get thrown in by coach operators. For those who do invest in compliant vehicles you may see those dipping into service work with potential competition for established operators...