Last Friday, July 19 and Sunday, July 21, the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT) held a thematic campaign in which they checked summer shuttle buses driving to and from Spain.
This inspection took place along the A2 near Maastricht, close to the Belgian border. The ILT noted a significant decrease in incorrect tachograph operation by summer shuttle bus drivers: in 2024 this percentage was 29%, while in July 2023 it was still 44%. In addition, all checked shuttle buses met the technical requirements, including lighting, tires, MOT and emergency hammers. All drivers also had the mandatory documents such as driver's license, code 95, permit and travel sheets.
It is important that travel organizations, bus companies and bus drivers adhere to the rules to ensure that everyone arrives safely at their destination. With these inspections, the ILT wants to contribute to the safety of passengers and fellow road users, promote the social protection of drivers and combat unfair competition.
During the inspection, the ILT found violations in the operation of the tachograph in seven of the 24 summer shuttle buses inspected. This concerned minor violations such as not entering the country code or border crossing, no or incorrect manual entry of the activities and not downloading the data after 90 days. Warnings were given for these violations. The bus drivers received information on the spot about how to operate the tachograph correctly.
A special finding during the inspection was a bus driver, who is also the owner of the bus company, who drove without a driver card because his card was in the tachograph of another bus. This violation could potentially lead to a company audit.
On Sunday, a scheduled service bus from Bosnia was stopped. The bus driver transported employees to their work locations in the Netherlands. During the inspection it turned out that the driver did not have the mandatory scheduled service permit with him, so the bus was not allowed to continue until the permit could be shown on the spot. In addition, the driver had made an error in operating the tachograph by entering the journey from Bosnia to Germany as 'rest' instead of 'other work'. The driver was fined €1.500 for this, which he had to pay immediately because he does not live in the European Union.
Shuttle buses, also known as international occasional passenger transport, transport pre-assembled groups from, for example, the Netherlands to Spain. This type of transport differs from international scheduled passenger transport, such as scheduled services, where everyone can buy a ticket and board on known routes, boarding points and timetables.
