On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) declared Ga.-based JCT Motor Coach Inc. an imminent hazard to public safety and ordered the bus company to immediately cease all intrastate and interstate transportation services.
FMCSA took this action after finding that the company, which provided charter bus service in the southeast, was attempting to evade a previous out-of-service order by operating under a different name, JT’s Travel & Charter. The imminent hazard order applies to all officers and future companies affiliated with both JCT Motor Coach Inc. and JT’s Travel & Charter Inc.
FMCSA can declare a commercial motor carrier, including a bus company, to be an imminent hazard if it finds that the carrier's operations pose a substantial likelihood of serious injury or death.
FMCSA’s original out-of-service order issued to JCT Motor Coach Inc. was the result of a comprehensive compliance review that found numerous significant safety violations by the company. These included intentionally falsifying vehicle maintenance records; failing to ensure its vehicles were regularly inspected, repaired and maintained; using drivers with positive drug and alcohol testing results; using medically unqualified drivers and failing to comply with federal hours-of-service requirements for drivers.
"This case is an example of FMCSA’s zero-tolerance approach to bus companies that try to mislead the public and violate the law by reincarnating under different names,” said FMCSA Administrator Anne S. Ferro. “These bus companies and their owners have no place operating on our roads.”
FMCSA orders JCT Motor Coach to cease operations
On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) declared Ga.-based JCT Motor Coach Inc. an imminent hazard to public safety and ordered the bus company to immediately cease all intrastate and interstate transportation services.
FMCSA took this action after finding that the company, which provided charter bus service in the southeast, was attempting to evade a previous out-of-service order by operating under a different name, JT's Travel & Charter. The imminent hazard order applies to all officers and future companies affiliated with both JCT Motor Coach Inc. and JT's Travel & Charter Inc.
FMCSA can declare a commercial motor carrier, including a bus company, to be an imminent hazard if it finds that the carrier's operations pose a substantial likelihood of serious injury or death. FMCSA's original out-of-service order issued to JCT Motor Coach Inc. was the result of a comprehensive compliance review that found numerous significant safety violations by the company. These included intentionally falsifying vehicle maintenance records; failing to ensure its vehicles were regularly inspected, repaired and maintained; using drivers with positive drug and alcohol testing results; using medically unqualified drivers and failing to comply with federal hours-of-service requirements for drivers.
"This case is an example of FMCSA's zero-tolerance approach to bus companies that try to mislead the public and violate the law by reincarnating under different names," said FMCSA Administrator Anne S. Ferro. "These bus companies and their owners have no place operating on our roads."