Letter allowing applications to extend the period of non-accessibility compliance for buses and coaches performing rail replacement duties.
The period of potential exemption is until 31 December 2020 subject to the conditions that:
train operating companies must source and use compliant vehicles wherever possible in the first instance, only using non-complaint vehicles that has been granted a special authorisation when other options have been exhausted.
When no compliant vehicle is available train operating companies must provide alternative accessible transport for disabled passengers which offers the same levels of service as those for non-disabled passengers with no detriment to those passengers.
Arrangements must be made in advance during planned engineering works to ensure alternative accessible transport is readily available.
This exemption supersedes the previously released period of 1 February to 30 April 2020. This extension has been given to potentially explore and devise a more ambitious timeline for providing rail replacement services that are fully compliant with current public service vehicles accessibility regulations.