Passenger Bus, Rail and Motorcoach Industry News

An advocacy group cited anomalies in how the board classified motorcoach operators and calculated fatality rates, raising doubts about the report's conclusion that curbside companies, including most Chinatown carriers, are about seven times more likely to have passenger deaths than companies using terminals.

Safety investigators found that Autobuses Zacatecanos failed to ensure that its vehicles were systematically and properly inspected, repaired and maintained. Onsite inspections of the carrier’s four buses revealed such numerous and serious safety violations that all four vehicles were immediately declared out of service.

Investigators found that Salt Lake Shuttles failed to monitor and ensure that its drivers complied with federal hours-of-service regulations. Drivers frequently made round-trip journeys from Salt Lake City to Las Vegas, a distance of approximately 840 miles, without rest, in violation of hours-of-service rules.

Dolphin Transportation issued a statement saying as many as 50 people were on the bus, and 17 people, including the driver, sustained injuries.

Coach USA Tour Inc. operates a small fleet of tour buses and primarily provides sightseeing tours in the northeastern U.S. The company is “NOT affiliated in any way with Paramus, N.J.-based Coach USA Inc.,” according to the FMCSA.

This is the first shutdown of a passenger carrier following the deployment earlier this month of more than 50 specially trained safety investigators targeting high-risk passenger carriers.

The April crash was caused when the driver, Loyd Rieve, failed to stay in his lane, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety report, which also disputed earlier accounts that the bus flipped over because of a blown tire or some other mechanical malfunction.

A chartered bus from Cardinal Coach Line overturned on a highway near Dallas, killing at least two people and injuring several others. The bus, carrying about 30 people, was traveling north to a casino when it slid off the highway.

Builds on FMCSA's plan to deploy more than 50 specially trained safety investigators throughout the country to begin targeted and in-depth inspections of higher risk motorcoach companies.

Toxicology tests showed that the Johnstown tour bus driver who crashed on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, killing the Seton Hill University women's lacrosse coach, her unborn child and himself, also had no prior medical condition. The driver died of blunt force trauma at the scene.