Just as I was bringing these posts to you.
"Bus lapses mount, but scrutiny lags; Carriers amass violations, continue operating for years without full safety reviews by strained federal agency" by Katie Johnston and Todd Wallack | Globe Staff May 07, 2014
Three Crystal Transport bus drivers failed drug tests but kept transporting thousands of passengers around Boston every day, according to federal investigators. Some new hires did not undergo proper drug screening; others falsified duty records to hide the fact that they exceeded the maximum hours allowed behind the wheel.
The violations piled up for five years before federal regulators in February conducted a full safety review of the Boston company — and quickly pulled its buses off the road. Crystal has since been reauthorized to operate here.
Related:
Crystal bus line is cited by US
Crystal bus service shut down for safety violations
Crystal Transport back on the road in Mass.
Sorry I missed the rides, readers.
Crystal Transport Inc. is just one example of the many bus companies with persistent safety violations that have been allowed to continue operating, a Globe analysis of federal data found.
Led by discount carriers that offer cheap tickets and free Wi-Fi, buses represent the fastest-growing segment of interstate travel, but regulation of the industry has lagged.
Why am I not surprised?
This government regulates that which it has no business, and fails to regulate what it should.
One in four of the more than 3,700 commercial motorcoach and passenger van companies regulated by the federal government has never received the full safety evaluation that turned up long-running problems at Crystal, according to the Globe’s investigation. Nearly half have not been reviewed in more than two years.
“The system is so stretched out it’s hard for them to keep tabs on companies,” said Brian Antolin, a Philadelphia transportation consultant.
Government couldn't keep tabs on them, huh?
Related: NSA Unlocking Your Secrets
Must be too busy doing that and hacking into things to look after your safety.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which oversees the industry, works with State Police and other authorities to conduct random inspections at bus stations and parking lots. It uses that inspection data to prioritize carriers for interventions, including warning letters or increased inspections, before conducting full safety reviews at company headquarters. Each carrier is then given a safety rating: satisfactory, conditional, or unsatisfactory, the last of which pulls the carrier off the road.
The agency said new companies and those with clean safety records account for some of the companies that have never had a full compliance review, and noted that more than half have undergone a new-entrant safety audit.
The motorcoach industry carries about 700 million people a year in the United States, compared with 824 million airline passengers. But buses receive far less scrutiny than planes, despite a record that is far more deadly. More than 170 people were killed in bus crashes from 2010 to early 2014, while no one died in commercial plane crashes on US carriers during that period.
It's all in the cla$$ of people taking the transport.
Following a decade of lax oversight, insufficient authority, and inadequate funding, recent rule changes have brought more attention to the industry. Full safety reviews are now required every two or three years, and a nationwide crackdown last year put 110 companies out of service, including Boston’s Fung Wah and Lucky Star.
Related:
Fung Wah is F***ed
Fung Wah, Lucky Star may be on the road again soon
Federal officials keep Fung Wah off the road
Lucky Star bus line cleared by US to operate
They look like nice busses to me.
But federal regulators are still playing catch-up, the Globe’s analysis found....
So am I, thus I am getting off the bus now.
--more--"
I would say you would be better off taking a taxi, but.... The Virginia DMV just issued a cease-and-desist to ostensibly illegal taxi companies, a.k.a. Uber, Lyft
