 The Traffic Commissioner is to examine the proposals |
A council plans to clampdown on the number of open-top bus tour operators in the Georgian city of Bath. Bath and North East Somerset Council (B&NES) has asked the bus watchdog, the Traffic Commissioner to bring in tough regulations to curb growing numbers.
Some 10 buses tour the centre daily with tourists, the council said.
The council wants to restrict operators to only using low-emission vehicles, to ban loudspeakers and to use only specified tourist bus stops.
Bus operators
The tour operators would also be required to operate on specified routes only which would exclude the city's historic Circus.
A three-day inquiry into the proposals will begin on Monday, 15 May, at the Swallow Lansdown Grove Hotel.
It is not the first occasion on which the council has attempted to curb the independent bus operators taking tourists around the city.
In October 2004 the council announced it wanted to limit the number of loudspeakers "polluting" the city and make buses install headphones.
Councillor Sir Elgar Jenkins, executive member for transport services told BBC News Interactive: "We are seeking to establish control because I am concerned the number of open-top buses are not appreciated by the residents."
"We are talking constructive ways of having reasonable control, that's all, we don't want to stop them."
Martin Curtis of open-top bus operator Bath City Sightseeing said: "We are concerned about restrictions to routes and the number of buses, because the suggested number is not enough to carry all of the tourists who want to travel at peak times."
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