The Westminster government has confirmed it has no plans to make the fitment of Audio-Visual (AV) a mandatory requirement on all new buses.
The news was revealed after Shadow Transport Minister Daniel Zeichner (Labour, Cambridge) asked the Secretary of State for Transport if he will review the Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations to make AV announcement systems a requirement on all new buses.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department for Transport, Andrew Jones MP (Conservative, Harrogate & Knaresborough) replied: “I understand the benefits that audio visual systems on buses can bring to passengers. There are a number of different potential solutions for achieving better audio visual information, not all of which will necessarily require on-bus equipment. Making on-board systems a requirement on all new buses would be a significant cost to the industry and I have no current plans to mandate such systems through regulation.”
