Teams of safety experts for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration made "legal visits" that shut down operations of 26 curbside bus operations in May 2012. These bus transportation companies were headquartered in six states, including Pennsylvania.
All of the shuttered firms were "curbside bus operations," that sell tickets online, while picking up and dropping off travelers on street corners versus having dedicated or shared terminals. With legal orders deeming these companies as "imminent hazards" to public safety, curbside carriers suffer a fatal accident rate around seven times higher than other interstate bus companies.
All of the safety crackdown targets are East Coast organizations that typically transport passengers along the popular New York to Florida corridor. This federal action is the largest safety violation shutdown in industry history. The cheap fares of curbside companies, achieved with low overhead and even lower driver compensation, has hurt traditional terminal-based bus companies during the past 10 years.
Along with closing down these bus operations, 10 company owners, managers and employees were ordered to cease and desist from any role in "passenger transportation operations." These prohibited activities include just selling bus tickets, online or otherwise. Interestingly, the majority of the over 225 bus routes formerly serviced by these companies, departed from or terminated in the Chinatown neighborhood of New York City.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration completed a year's investigation focused on three primary curbside bus companies, two in New York and one in Philadelphia. Each of these primary targets oversee operations the remaining 23 companies ordered to cease operations.
The investigation discovered that allegedly all of these companies ignored safety rules, putting passengers and motorists in serious safety risk situations. Government safety organizations have complained that their prior attempts to close unsafe bus companies have previously been hampered by "reincarnated carriers," who change their names and/or locations to avoid government safety shutdowns.
Do you believe the U.S. Congress should consider stronger legislation to close loopholes allowing these "rogue" companies to continue operations and/or allowing transportation safety agencies to better regulate bus industry transportation brokers and ticket sellers?
Source: Fox News, "Gov't cracking down on unsafe bus companies," Associated Press, May 31, 2012