HelpES

Bus and coach: delays and cancellations

What you’re owed if your bus or coach is cancelled, leaves late or breaks down, and how to claim it. The EU Regulation 181/2011 applies, in force since 1 March 2013.

General information, not legal advice. What you’re entitled to depends on your trip, the country, the carrier and the rules in force. If your case is complicated, check with the relevant authority or a professional. More in the terms of use.

Does it apply to you?

  • Almost all of it, only on regular services —fixed route, stops and timetable— leaving from or arriving in the EU whose scheduled distance is 250 km or more. It’s the service’s distance that counts, not your journey’s.
  • On services under 250 km only some rules apply, such as information during the journey and complaints.

What happened?

  • Your bus was cancelled

    If it’s cancelled, or more tickets were sold than seats, you must be offered straight away a choice between continuing to your destination at no extra cost, as soon as possible, or a refund of the ticket. If the bus leaves before its time, it counts as a cancellation.

  • It leaves more than two hours late

    With a departure delay of more than 120 minutes you have the same options as with a cancellation. And you must be told no later than 30 minutes after the scheduled time.

  • It broke down on the way

    The company has to continue the journey with another vehicle or take you to a place from which you can carry on.

  • There was an accident

    For injuries or for lost or damaged luggage in an accident, compensation under national law, with a minimum of €220,000 per passenger and €1,200 per piece of luggage. If your bag is lost or stolen without an accident, the EU rules don’t apply: check the ticket conditions.

What you may be owed

Refund or continuing the journey
The refund, within 14 days and in money, with a free trip back to your starting point if the journey no longer makes sense; or continuing to your destination at no cost at the earliest opportunity.
If you’re not given the choice
On top of the refund, you’re owed compensation of 50% of the ticket price, which has to be paid within a month of asking for it.
Assistance while you wait
On journeys of more than three hours, if departure is cancelled or delayed by more than 90 minutes: meals and drinks in line with the wait and, if you have to stay overnight, a hotel and transport to it. The hotel may be limited to €80 a night, two nights at most, and isn’t owed if the cause is extreme weather or a major natural disaster.

How to claim, step by step

  1. Complain to the company within three months of the journey. Within a month it has to tell you whether it accepts it, and give you its final answer within three months at most.
  2. If you’re not satisfied, complain to the national enforcement body of the country the bus left from (or the one it was arriving in, if it came from outside the EU), which will give you a non-binding opinion. The official list for every country is one of this page’s sources.
  3. If it left from Spain, the body is the Directorate-General for Road and Rail Transport of the Ministry of Transport (viajeros.tcyf@transportes.gob.es); the regional transport arbitration boards are too. You must have complained to the company first.
  4. You can also use alternative dispute resolution (if you live in the EU), the European Consumer Centre or the courts, including the European small claims procedure.
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Official sources

Last reviewed: 5 October 2026