Public Service Vehicles (Accessible Information) Regulations 2023
Converting spoken passenger information into accessible visible information
What this is
The Public Service Vehicles (Accessible Information) Regulations 2023 (SI 2023/715) are a UK statutory instrument requiring local bus and coach operators in England, Scotland and Wales to provide passengers with both audible and visible information about routes, stops and diversions. DfT has published detailed accompanying guidance, “Providing accessible information onboard local bus and coach services”, explaining how operators are expected to meet the Regulations.
Who it applies to
Operators of local bus and coach services in England, Scotland and Wales. Exemptions include minibuses (16 or fewer passengers), demand-responsive transport, heritage services (vehicles first used before 1973), closed-door school transport, excursions and tours, long-distance services where local-route sections are under 50% of total distance, and certain community transport permits: section 19 permit services are exempt for all vehicles, while section 22 permit services are only exempt for vehicles first used before 1 October 2023 — a newer section 22 vehicle must still comply. This is a summary, not an exhaustive list — see Regulation 4(2) or DfT guidance for full exemption criteria.
What kind of instrument this is
A mandatory statutory instrument (secondary legislation) — legally binding on covered operators, not voluntary guidance. DfT's accompanying document is statutory guidance explaining how to comply, not the legal requirement itself.
Specific requirements relevant to announcements and accessible information
- Audible information must sit within a 300–3000 Hz frequency range, at a volume 3 dB above ambient noise, capped at 84 dB maximum.
- Induction loops are required for hearing aid users in priority seating areas.
- Visible information requires a minimum character height of 22mm, strong text/background contrast (WCAG standards recommended), unobstructed sightlines from at least 51% of seats on each deck, and — a statutory requirement — must not display required information in capital letters only. DfT guidance separately recommends (but does not legally mandate) avoiding scrolling text where possible.
- Required information covers stops, routes, directions and diversions.
- Compliance is phased by vehicle age: vehicles first used after 1 October 2019 must comply by 1 October 2024; vehicles first used 2014–2019 by 1 October 2025; vehicles first used 1973–2014 by 1 October 2026; partially compliant vehicles have until 1 October 2031.
What organisations are expected to do
- Equip vehicles, on the phased timeline above, with systems that announce stops, routes and diversions audibly and display them visibly, meeting the technical specification in full.
- Ensure the systems are actually operated in service, not just installed.
- Handle passenger complaints through the defined escalation route — operator, then Bus Users UK / London TravelWatch, then DVSA, then the Traffic Commissioner — with a 14-day response requirement at the initial stage.
Which requirements AnnounceAgain can help address
This regulation is the clearest match in this list for AnnounceAgain's core function: DfT explicitly requires audible information to have a visible counterpart. AnnounceAgain's automatic speech-to-text conversion is directly aligned with that principle. The important caveat is in section 8 below — the Regulations require a fitted, in-vehicle display meeting exact specifications, which is a different thing from a personal-device channel.
How AnnounceAgain addresses them
- Automatically captures and transcribes spoken onboard announcements to text, giving passengers who missed or could not hear a stop announcement a way to check recent announcements on their own device.
- Provides translation into 4 languages as standard, with further languages available, going beyond what the base Regulations require and supporting passengers whose first language is not the announcement's language.
- Gives passengers an additional way to review recent announcements on their own device. This is a supplementary convenience only — it does not cure a compliance gap if the fitted onboard system is faulty, obstructed or out of service; the operator remains in breach of the Regulations during any such outage regardless of what other channels are available.
- Note: AnnounceAgain has not yet been independently tested or field-validated in a bus or coach vehicle environment; its acoustic performance in that specific setting (engine noise, vibration, connectivity) is not confirmed.
Requirements AnnounceAgain does not satisfy by itself
- The Regulations require a fitted, in-vehicle visible display system meeting exact specifications — 22mm minimum character height, unobstructed sightlines from 51% of seats per deck, no scrolling or block capitals, and timing tied to the specific stop or route. AnnounceAgain, accessed on a passenger's own device, does not by itself satisfy this fitted on-board display requirement.
- It does not provide the required induction loop for hearing aid users in priority seating.
- It does not guarantee every passenger has a compatible personal device, signal or connectivity onboard, which the fitted display requirement does not depend on.
Requirements needing dedicated hardware or other measures
- The onboard visible information display system itself, meeting the character height, contrast and sightline specification — typically a purpose-built onboard unit. Note there is no formal third-party certification or type-approval scheme for this equipment under the Regulations; compliance is operator self-assessed, with DVSA enforcement based on complaints and an audit trail the operator must be able to produce.
- The induction loop system for priority seating.
- Calibration of the audible announcement system to the required frequency range and volume (300–3000 Hz, 3 dB above ambient, capped at 84 dB).