Doubling the use of buses, coaches and taxis to save lives and cut carbon emissions. This is the EU Smart Move High Level Group (HLG) recommendations presented to the European Commission Vice President Siim Kallas. The HLG also called on the EC to implement these proposals as a formal EU policy objective to be reached by 2025. The HLG calculated that by doubling the use of bus and coach services it could alone save 1,500 lives per year, as well as considerably reducing injuries. HLG calculations also show a reduction of CO2 emissions of between 40 and 50 million tonnes per year and an expected 10-12% fall in car traffic as well as the creation of up to 3 million new sustainable and green EU jobs. The HLG proposed 16 measures to achieve these objectives, including the creation of a permanent EU Smart Move Citizens Mobility Forum, involving public and private stakeholders. The EU public-private Smart Move High Level Group was launched on 24 May 2012, to ensure a follow-up of the European Commission 2011 Transport White Paper and contribute to the EU 2020 Growth Agenda. It is composed of Members of the European Parliament, representatives of other European institutions and European cities and representatives of the private bus, coach and taxi industry.

Scottish bus operator McGill’s Buses has taken delivery of 10 ADL Enviro200s. This is the first batch of an order for twenty vehicles that immediately entered service in the Inverclyde network, Scotland. The remaining ten units will be be delivered in autumn. The Alexander Dennis Enviro200 is a midibus manufactured by Alexander Dennis since 2006 for the British market. The Enviro200s commissioned by McGill’s Buses are all 10.8m models powered by Cummins ISBe four-cylinder 160PS EEV engines with Allison S2100 transmissions. Specification includes bonded glazing, Mobitec destination equipment and Civic V2 seats. McGill’s Buses is a bus operating firm based in Greenock, Inverclyde, Scotland. The company employs over 700 staff and operates more than 350 buses across almost 55 routes.

German bus operator Block Busreisen from Lower Saxony took delivery of the first 3-axle Setra ComfortClass 500 model in Germany. This is also the first touring coach in the new ComfortClass 500 range delivered to North Germany. It's an S 517 HD fitted with 52 comfortable seats which have a minimum clearance of 83 centimetres to ensure plenty of legroom. All the seats are provided with armrests, passenger tables and footrests. The equipment includes a galley and a DVB T tuner for the audio and video system. The 3-axle S 517 HD is powered by an environmentally friendly Euro VI engine and features numerous safety systems. They include the Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) with the Emergency Braking Assistance system (ABA2), which is fitted with a new radar sensor and automatically brakes the coach, even when stationary obstacles are detected. The ComfortClass 500 series offers an interior headroom increased to 2100 mm. In this way even taller passengers sitting on the wall side can now stand up comfortably.

Solaris Bus & Coach delivered an Urbino 12 Hybrid bus in Western Bohemian city of Plzeň, Czech republic. The vehicle is fully developed and manufactured in cooperation between Solaris and Škoda Electric, a leading world manufacturer of electric drives and traction motors. Featured with an electric drive from Škoda Electric, the hybrid bus is environmentally friendly and has a significantly lower consumption than classical buses. «Running on its battery, the bus can go as far as 10 km without the need of battery re-charging or the use of a diesel generator. This design is suitable especially for intensive traffic in cities with a high frequency of starting and braking at relatively slow speeds", says Karel Majer, director of the Trolleybuses division at Škoda Electric.

On the eve of the United Nations Global Road Safety Week (May 6-12, 2013), the bus and coach industry adopts the Smart Move Road Safety Handbook and charter, to further improve its already exemplary safety record. The Handbook focuses on three main issues: safe vehicle, driver and company. It invites bus and coach companies to sign a road safety charter, while providing drivers with a set of easy-to-use safety checklists. It also provides recommendations to policy decision-makers and manufacturers on making buses and coaches even safer. Statistics show that it is seven times safer to go to school by bus instead of the family car. In the European Union, buses and coaches have consistently shown excellent safety records, equal to that of trains, despite sharing the road with other, lesser-trained road users, thanks to industry initiatives to continually improve safety. Doubling the use of buses and coaches in the EU alone is expected to reduce the number of fatalities on European roads by more than 1,500 per year. This figure could be improved further with more investments in safer infrastructure.