Get On The Bus
by John Marc Green
CBS 42 News
2008-04-30 20:00:00.0
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Six die in Atlanta as a charter bus falls off an overpass. A marine is killed in another bus accident. A charter bus carrying dozens of school children runs off I-59, flips over and injures more than 20.
What's going on?
"Obviously any time there's a charter bus accident there's a lot of press on that now, but charter buses are still the safest mode of transportation in the United States; there's a lot of statistics to back that up and there's a lot of places to find those statistics."
That's Frank Montgomery. His family has been running Capital Trailways in Montgomery for more than 80 years. He's also the president of the five year old Alabama Motor Coach Association, formed to improve the charter bus industry.
He says most bus companies are professional operations that do nothing but move people around safely all day long.
"But there are still some people that keep buses around as a part time hobby and will charter them out to groups on days that they're not working their regular job," said Montgomery.
With that in mind, Montgomery says there are three questions you need answered before lining up a bus company:
- Are they registered with federal and state regulators?
- Do they have proof of current liability insurance?
- Are their buses professionally maintained and inspected?
"After that you may want to enquire about how they train their operators, how long have they been in business, what kind of business do they do," said Montgomery.
Ed Sunday at Capital Trailways says you don't have to crawl up under the bus to get basic information.
"Anybody can look at a tire and tell whether it's got rubber on it or anything. You can look and see if the windows are cracked, seats are tore up. Normally speaking if any of that stuff is going on, you can expect the rest of the coach might follow suit," said Sunday.
Charter buses in Alabama are inspected by specially trained state troopers.
"I would ask them what their safety rating is. The three ratings they get is either satisfactory, conditional or unsatisfactory," said State Trooper Corporal Ken Price.
An unsatisfactory rating is a big red flag. Finally, check out some of the websites that reveal the safety statistics of registered bus companies.
The safest companies subject themselves to inspections by the department of defense to get military carrier contracts. Montgomery says that's a sure sign they've "gone the extra mile."
"And we're all there, and we're naked, you know, you see what the authorities see, and that's the way it should be, if somebody's got something to hide, you really need to think about it before you get on their coach," said Montgomery.
Montgomery adds...
- All charter bus companies are certified, inspected and regulated by the US Department of Transportation. However, there are a few operators who, desiring to conduct business with the various branches of the Armed Forces, submit themselves for certification and inspection by the US Department of Defense. Coach companies that qualify to handle DOD personnel have met more stringent operating standards than just the minimum requirements mandated by the Department of Transportation. Also, they are inspected no less frequently than every two years by an outside safety contractor, and ranked based on their performance. In addition to the different "critical items" I discussed a charter client inquiring about, this certification and the company’s specific score on their latest inspection would be very helpful in indicating a coach company’s fitness. All TRAILWAYS carriers are DOD certified, as a mandate of membership in the TRAILWAYS organization.
- The "backyard bus operator" can be a concern for the traveling public, due to their potential lack of professional maintenance, and driver oversight/training. Another source of substandard service that is growing in the charter bus industry is the occasional church that purchases a coach for their own use, and then decides to charter the bus out to others when they're not using it. Again, the professional oversight and maintenance of the coach and the driver should be of the utmost concern to the contracting party.
- Finally, I would encourage anyone looking to contract a bus for transportation to inquire about the company’s ability to obtain help in the event of mechanical or driver problems during the trip. Find out if the company has a plan for handling such an occurrence, as issues are likely to arise. Also, if the company 'farms' the work to another carrier due to lack of equipment, then the customer should be sure that the subcontracted carrier meets the customer’s expectations as well.
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