A new report published in the Boston Globe has revealed frightening information about the appalling lack of regulation on the motor coach industry, giving the riding public good reason to think twice before riding on cut-rate buses. One example cited in the Globe’s report showed that three different drivers working for the Crystal Transport bus line operating in Boston failed their mandatory drug tests, yet continued driving passengers around the city. Other newly-hired drivers were never even asked to submit to these tests, while other drivers lied while filling out activity logs in order to escape notice of having driven more hours than are legally permitted. It took five years of violations before a full safety review of the company was conducted by federal regulators and the company pulled their vehicles off of the road.
In another example, Turimex LLC of Laredo, Texas had accumulated almost 2,000 different vehicle maintenance violations in a two year period. These included violations for bald tires, faulty brakes and electrical systems with wiring in disarray across a fleet of 85 buses. There were almost forty separate instances of the carrier hiring non-English speaking drivers, yet the company has not been required to submit to a full safety investigation for two years.
Concerns like these are typical of the new wave of bus companies, which are offering extremely inexpensive tickets and amenities like free Wi-Fi to attract full loads of passengers who may not realize that the low prices that they are paying are in exchange for adherence to safety. Of the 3,700 commercial motorcoach and passenger van companies that are currently registered with federal authorities, twenty-five percent are never fully evaluated for safety, and almost half haven’t undergone any kind of safety review in over two years.
The reason? Apparently the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the agency responsible for ensuring the safety of the motor coach industry, is stretched beyond their means. They rely on reports from state police and others to alert them to serial offenders, using this information to prioritize the companies that are putting passengers most at risk. With more than 700 million people utilizing these low-cost forms of transportation, it seems like a recipe for disaster. As things stand, 170 people have been killed riding buses in the last four years.