July 15, 2006 WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE BUS INDUSTRY Buses perform Operators seek ways to cope with brokers It was a simple request: “Tell seemingly growing number of Kelly of Mountain View Tours in explained. “Their employees are better in safety us about your experience with bus brokers asking for price quotes Tucson, Ariz. rude and bullying and do not brokers.” that seldom produce work. She said callers from brokers respect my company’s policies.” check this year The appeal ran at the end of an And when an operator thinks are sometimes disrespectful and article about brokers in the June he has landed a broker-initiated demanding, especially those from Pestered to death WASHINGTON — The out- 15 issue of Bus & Motorcoach A number of other carriers say of-service rate for motorcoaches News. they have experienced similar inspected last month during the One operator became Perhaps the best way The story clearly touched a problems with brokers being rude, annual safety blitz conducted by raw nerve. arrogant and condescending over the Commercial Vehicle Safety so concerned about the to compete with bus While executives at some the telephone, and seldom return- Alliance declined for only the sec- coach companies say they’ve had ing calls when additional informa- ond time in this decade. practices of brokers he brokers is to outdo good experiences with selected tion is sought from a broker. A record number of coaches brokers, many others complain of Michael A. Kraft of Krafttours — 1,238 — were inspected during began a brokerage of them on their own turf a wide range of problems. Corp. in Tulsa, Okla., said he gets Roadcheck 2006, and 9.2 percent At the same time, operators pestered regularly by brokers, but were ordered off the road for safe- his own. — the Internet. say they are finding different ways gets very little business when he ty violations. of getting business without going job, the broker continues to pepper one outfit — Metropolitan Shuttle provides them with quotes. That was down from last year’s through traditional brokers, other carriers for quotes and will of Wheaton, Md. — that she said “We’ve had countless quote out-of-service rate of 11.7 percent including using a fledging Internet cancel a contract the minute it gets makes her employees “shudder” requests from brokers and the and more in line with the rates in outlet that puts carriers in direct a lower price. whenever its name appears on the business we’ve been able to win 2004, 9.6 percent, and 2003, 9.5 contact with potential customers. “My company receives several company caller ID. has been calculable on one hand,” percent. Operators continue to com- quote requests weekly from bus “They call for quotes almost he said. The last time there was a year- plain, though, they are being brokers, but transportation is very every day but we have never actu- And even when he does get a to-year decline in the Roadcheck swamped daily with calls from a rarely booked,” reports Ariane ally worked for them,” she motorcoach out-of-service rate CONTINUED ON PAGE 14 þ was in 2001, when the rate dipped to 9 percent from an astronomical 20.2 percent rate in 2000. Security grants announced Georgia requires security While the out-of-service rate dropped this year for buses, the out-of-service rate for coach driv- for ’06; a change – of sorts training for CDL holders ers increased. WASHINGTON — In a turn ics said it made no sense to exclude ATLANTA — A first-of-its- years will result in a three- to five- When CVSA inspectors about, the U.S. Department of 97 percent of the industry from the kind law in the nation now year driver suspension. checked log books, CDLs, medical Homeland Security has announced grant process, especially when requires bus and motorcoach driv- The Highway Watch program cards and other factors, 2.9 percent that charter operators will be eligi- many of those companies park tour ers in Georgia to get security and was developed by the American of the coach drivers were ordered ble to apply for the bus security buses next to the nation’s most safety training before they renew Trucking Associations and is now off the road. That compares with a grants the agency will award this important landmarks and other their commercial driver license. operated by the ATA under the fall. potential targets in cities that are driver out-of-service rate of 2.7 The training is part of the aegis of the U.S. Department of Last year, when the department considered to be the most at risk of percent in 2005 and 2004, and 1.7 national Highway Watch program Homeland Security. Fundamen- announced its security grant pro- a terrorist attack. Or, those opera- and it also applies to Georgia tally, it teaches commercial vehi- percent in 2003. The out-of-service gram, it restricted those that could tors send coaches into vulnerable truckers and others who hold cle drivers to watch for and report for truck drivers this year was 5.6 apply to a cobbled-together list of tunnels and over exposed bridges CDLs or are applying for a CDL suspicious activity on state and percent, also an increase. roughly 95 bus companies, all of in high-risk cities. for the first time. federal highways. The number of bus inspections which were supposedly fixed-route The security bureaucrats at the Georgia bus drivers also are Once trained, Highway Watch performed in the United States operators. department apparently got the being impacted by another provi- participants can contact emer- during this year’s three-day Charter companies were ex- message and opened the applica- sion in the new state law. Drivers gency personnel through a special Roadcheck totaled 981, with an pressly forbidden from seeking tion process this year to both char- with a CDL endorsement to trans- telephone hotline, providing additional 257 coach inspections grant money. ter and fixed-route operators. port 15 or more passengers, and emergency responders with pre- performed in Canada. That prohibition touched off a However, there is criterion this who are convicted of violating an cise location and incident infor- The number of coaches in- firestorm of criticism from the year that will once again eliminate out-of-service order, will be dis- mation. spected has generally gone up in United Motorcoach Association, most charter operators from being qualified from driving for a period “There is no cost to the recent years. Last year, there were the American Bus Association and eligible to apply. Those seeking of not less than six months, nor (Georgia Highway Watch) train- 860 coaches checked, up from 589 others in the coach industry. grants must have coaches that more than two years. ing,” said Ed Crowell, president of CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 þ þ CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 þ The associations and other crit- The same violation within 10 CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 2 July 15, 2006 INDUSTRY NEWS Bus & Motorcoach NEWS Landmark museum building Coach America is reopened by Smithsonian buys Contactours WASHINGTON — Early this motorcoach tours. DALLAS — Coach America is month, the Smithsonian Institution Restoration of the Greek Re- expanding its presence in San Di- reopened the landmark Old Patent vival building, the third-oldest con- ego by acquiring Contactours, an Office Building, one the capital’s tinuously used edifice in Wash- established sightseeing, charter and most-historic structures and home ington, included reopening the tour bus operator that specializes in to the National Portrait Gallery. original skylights. There are plans Southern California and Mexico’s There was a gala reopening event. to construct a glass canopy over the Baja peninsula. Located half way between the courtyard at the center of the build- Coach America, the nation’s Capitol and the White House in an ing that covers two city blocks. largest charter-and-tour coach area city designer Pierre L’Enfant Since it opened in the 1830s, company, purchased Contactours designated for a national church or the Old Patent Office Building has from the Comartin family, owners a pantheon for the country’s heroes, performed a multitude of functions The wide hallways in the Old Patent Office Building become exhibit spaces. of the 26-year-old company that the building has been closed for in American life. It was created to operates out of the San Diego sub- restoration for six years. provide office space, as well as parking garage. President Dwight American popular culture. Andy urb of National City. The contents of its two resident showcase patent models that dis- Eisenhower saved it, however, and Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe is there, Ed Comartin, general manager museums — The American Art played America’s inventive genius, the building is now a National His- along with a portrait of Warhol of Contactours, has been named Museum and the portrait gallery — but it took on other roles over the toric Landmark. In 1958, Congress himself. Plus, contemporary images general manager of Coach Ameri- have been returned to new exhibit years. gave it to the Smithsonian. of Muhammad Ali, Thomas Wolfe, ca’s San Diego operation. halls that better integrate the collec- It has been the repository for According to Marc Pachter, Gloria Steinham and basketball “This acquisition will enable tions. national treasures, like the Decla- director of the National Portrait super star Shaquille O’Neal. Coach America to build its sight- While the building was being ration of Independence and George Galley, “this has always been the The American Art Museum seeing business in San Diego and revamped, the surrounding neigh- Washington’s Revolutionary War right building for the National contains the nation’s first public art further expand its charter business borhood — known as Gallery Place tent.