1. A bus or minibus which is to be used for paying passengers (known in law as ‘hire and reward’) and classed as a Public Service Vehicle (PSV) must comply with various construction regulations.

These are as follows:

The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 (as amended). (Known as C&U)
The Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989 (as amended).
The Road Vehicles (Authorised Weight) Regulations 1998.
The Public Service Vehicles (Conditions of Fitness, Equipment, Use and Certification) Regulations 1981. (Known as COIF)
The Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations 2000. (SI 2000 No. 1970).
The Public Service Vehicles (Carrying Capacity) Regulations 1984 (SI 1984 No. 1406).

The regulations in bold still apply if the bus is a private bus which is not used for paying passengers (i.e. not a PSV) while the other Regulations not in bold, do not apply.

2. The conduct of drivers and passengers on a bus that is carrying passengers is regulated by another set of regulations as follows:

The Public Service Vehicles (Conduct of Drivers, Inspectors, Conductors and Passengers) Regulations 1990 (SI 1990 No. 1020).

3. These regulations are available in most city reference libraries, from sources such as Sweet and Maxwell who publish the “The Encyclopaedia of Road Traffic Law and Practice”. This publication is continually updated and Volume 4 contains the above-mentioned regulations in consolidated format.

It may be possible to purchase the Regulations from commercial providers, in a consolidated format.

Alternatively, some of the regulations are available on the internet (see Annex 1). Unfortunately the C&U Regulations, the COIF Regulations and the PSV Carrying Capacity Regulations are not.

Separate sets of Regulations apply in Northern Ireland.

Many of the requirements in GB are based on European Directives. Details of how to obtain these are also contained in Annex 1.

Annex 1 - Regulations available on the internet

The Statutory Instruments which make up the some of the above regulations are available on the Legislation website of The Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) http://www.opsi.gov.uk/legislation/index.htm as follows:

A - Authorised Weight Regulations

Base Regulation
The Road Vehicles (Authorised Weight) Regulations 1998 (SI 1998 No. 3111).
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1998/19983111.htm

As amended by:
The Road Vehicles (Authorised Weight) (Amendment) Regulations 2000 (SI 2000 No. 3224).
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2000/20003224.htm

B - Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations

Base Regulation:
The Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations 2000 (SI 2000 No. 1970).
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2000/20001970.htm

As amended by:
The Public Service Vehicles Accessibility (Amendment) Regulations 2000 (SI 2000 No. 3318).
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2000/20003318.htm

C - Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations

Base Regulation:
The Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989: SI 1989 No.1796
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1989/Uksi_19891796_en_1.htm

As amended by:
The Road Vehicles Lighting (Amendment) Regulations 1994 : SI 1994 No.2280
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1994/Uksi_19942280_en_1.htm

The Road Vehicles Lighting (Amendment) Regulations 1996 : SI 1996 No.3016
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1996/Uksi_19963016_en_1.htm

The Road Vehicles Lighting (Amendment) Regulations 2001 : SI 2001 No.560
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2001/20010560.htm

The Road Vehicles Lighting (Amendment) Regulations 2005 : SI 2005 No.2559
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2005/20052559.htm

D - The Public Service Vehicles (Conduct of Drivers, Inspectors, Conductors and Passengers) Regulations 1990

The Public Service Vehicles (Conduct of Drivers, Inspectors, Conductors and Passengers) Regulations 1990: SI 1990 No. 1020
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/SI/si1990/Uksi_19901020_en_1.htm

If you would like to purchase printed copies of all of these, Statutory Instruments are available to purchase from TSO:
The Stationery Office               Tel: 0870 600 5522
TSO Orders/Post Cash Dept   Fax: 0870 600 5533
PO Box 29                               e-mail: customer.services@tso.co.uk
Norwich                                    online ordering: http://www.tsoshop.co.uk/bookstore.asp?
NR3 1GN                                 customer service: http://www.tso.co.uk/contact/customerservices/
                                                           
 
UN-ECE Regulations can be found at: http://www.unece.org/trans/main/wp29/wp29regs.html