Happy New Year! January 1, 2013
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Happy New Year! January 1, 2013 Get ready: Bus safety executives blast DataQs system ASHBURN, Va. — Bus and An FMCSA nar during a presentation by Peter is incorrect, maybe there was a data ADA audits motorcoach safety executives at- spokesperson Chandler, team leader in the entry problem. If you find some tending a seminar here last month later told Bus & FMCSA office of enforcement and potentially incorrect data, there is a gave Federal Motor Carrier Safety Motorcoach compliance. website called DataQs where you are coming Administration officials an earful News the agency Chandler had just encouraged can challenge what you believe to about the agency’s DataQs system plans to launch a participants to look closely at their be incorrect data on your opera- ASHBURN, Va. — Federal used to challenge inaccurate infor- new DataQs sys- company safety data in the agency’s tion.” The website can be found safety inspectors are ramping up mation about their companies. tem this month to Safety Measurement System, which at https://dataqs.fmcsa.dot.gov/. their ability to conduct an Ameri- The safety executives said the improve its intake FMCSA uses to prioritize interven- cans with Disabilities Act audit as system is stacked against them, and resolution Peter Chandler tions such as compliance reviews, to A broken system? part of virtually every compliance with their challenges often going process. assure the information is accurate. A number of participants inter- review of a motorcoach company, directly to the people who wrote The industry executives spoke “Check the data we have on rupted him to voice their unhap- officials with the Federal Motor up the inaccurate information in up at the United Motorcoach Asso- you,” Chandler said. piness with the DataQs system, Carrier Safety Administration told the first place. ciation Safety Management Semi- “It’s possible some of the data CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 attendees at the United Motor- c coach Association Safety Manage- ment Seminar here last month. “Eventually, they are going to Latest California emissions limit effective Jan. 1 be a part of every single compli- SACRAMENTO, Calif. — coach News.) equipped with particulate filters. until it is in compliance. ance review, with rare exceptions,” Motorcoach companies operating Similar requirements took ef- Operators sending coaches to The rules are part of Califor- said Wesley Barber, transportation older buses in California should be fect for 1996-99 model-year en- California for the 2013 Rose Bowl nia’s Diesel Risk Reduction Plan, specialist in the FMCSA commer- aware of the latest deadline for a gines in January 2012, and will or Rose Parade on New Year’s Day which includes a number of regu- cial passenger safety division. tough regulation designed to curb apply to 2005 or newer model-year should be aware of the requirement. lations designed to reduce emis- “So, just be aware, that ADA air pollution from buses and engines in January 2014. CARB warns that penalties for sions from a variety of sources. will now be incorporated into trucks. The rules cover all diesel- noncompliance are stiff. When the Statewide Truck and compliance reviews and investiga- The California Air Resources powered vehicles traveling in the Owners face fines that start at Bus Rule was adopted in 2008, its tions when we come into your Board issued an alert to remind state, whether registered in Cali- $1,000 per violation per month goal was to reduce diesel emis- company.” operators that coaches operating in fornia or another state. and increase significantly over sions to nearly 70 percent lower Barber advised bus and motor- the state with 2000-04 model-year In other words, for trips into time. than they would be without the coach safety executives attending engines will likely need to have California, operators should use In addition, noncompliance regulation, and reduce emissions the seminar to take ADA compli- been retrofitted with PM filters, as coaches equipped with 2007 or can mean a California Department of the smog-forming pollutant ance very seriously because if the required by the Statewide Truck newer model-year engines, which of Motor Vehicles registration NOx (oxides of nitrogen) by 25 FMCSA finds “a carrier that is in and Bus Rule, by Jan. 1, 2013. meet the reduced emissions require- block on the bus, and the Califor- percent by 2014. (See Feb. 1, 2008 willful noncompliance, we have (See March 1, 2011, Bus & Motor- ments, or use older buses that are nia Highway Patrol can impound it CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 c the ability to suspend, amend or re- voke any part of their operating authority.” Prevost turns to technology to aid customers Furthermore, FMCSA is not the only agency that might get in- Bus & Motorcoach News has than 2,000 sold through these changes, we feel it is Is the North American intercity volved in an enforcement action. asked North America’s leading each year. Do our responsibility to provide prod- market a segment Prevost intends to The U.S. Department of Justice motorcoach builders and suppliers you see the ucts and services to operators pursue aggressively in the future? and the FMCSA have an informa- to participate in a series of ques- market re- which continue to keep their oper- Commuter coach operators are tion-sharing interagency agree- tion-and-answer format articles in bounding? Or, ating costs as low as possible, so looking for a stronger choice for ment, said Loretta Bitner, chief of advance of UMA Motorcoach is this the “new they can focus on creatively serv- their commuter needs. Reliability, Expo 2013. normal?” ing their customers. dependability, and cost of opera- the commercial enforcement divi- Here is the second article, with A. Since Our customers indicate that a tions are very important to this sion at FMCSA. the questions submitted to and an- change is inevi- rebound is dependent on them market. So even if the FMCSA decides swered by Robert Goodnight, vice table in this in- Robert Goodnight being able to offer transportation Prevost has been approached not to take a significant action president new coach sales at Pre- dustry, we believe we should not and travel services without in- by operators looking for a com- against a carrier found to be in vost Car, builder of Prevost motor- view anything as “normal.” creased operating costs. Prevost is muter coach that addresses their noncompliance with ADA, the De- coaches and distributor of the As to the market rebounding, doing its part by offering various needs, and we are meeting those partment of Justice may take a dif- Volvo 9700 coach. we think that depends on several ways to increase fuel economy, in- needs with the X3-45 Commuter ferent view, she warned. Q. Overall sales of new mo- factors. We will have to see how cluding its innovative PRIME by Coach. “Sometimes we (the FMCSA) torcoaches in the U.S. and Cana- well the industry adapts to chang- Prevost, which lowers fuel costs Q. In the current business don’t start the action to revoke the da have been at reduced levels es in the market. through a unique energy manage- and economic climate, are you CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 c for the past four years — fewer To help the industry move ment system. 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Bus & Motorcoach News INDUSTRY NEWS January 1, 2013 3 Driver escapes manslaughter charge in fatal NYC crash NEW YORK — The driver in a found guilty, the judge sentenced the result of reckless behavior or the driver told a New York newspaper employer, World Wide Tours, fatal 2011 motorcoach crash that him to 30 days in prison, which he extreme exhaustion. He said a after the trial. “It was quiet and dark. faces dozens of civil lawsuits con- touched off an inspection witch has served. He also was ordered to tractor-trailer cut him off, causing Everyone was asleep.” solidated into one Brooklyn case. hunt in New York and other states pay a fee of $500. him to swerve and hit a guardrail. Investigators claim Williams Meanwhile, Williams is dead was acquitted last month of man- Prosecutors had accused Wil- Investigators could find no in- also began dozing, leading him to broke and out of work. slaughter and negligent homicide liams of being all but asleep when dication that had occurred. veer into a guardrail, which caused “I’ve been unfairly portrayed. charges stemming from the tragedy. the coach he was driving in March Williams faced the possibility the bus to flip on its side and skid I’m not that monster, I’m not a Ophadell Williams was found 2011 crashed, killing 15 gamblers of 15 years in prison for the crash. into a towering sign post, which death driver,” he said. “I loved my guilty on a single count of aggra- on their way home to New York Moments before the crash, Wil- sheared off the roof.