Just how safe are the buses?

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You may be wondering how safe motorcoaches are.

Motorcoach travel is the safest method of travel per passenger-mile.

American Bus Association study shows that motorcoaches do 630 passenger-miles a year as of 2006.

National Bus Safety Council study shows that between 1987 and 1996, average fatalities caused by buses is 4.6 per year. (For comparison, 44000 fatalities from cars per year for the same period)

Buses are higher off the floor, so the only things that can damage a bus is a truck or another bus, basically something of the same size or larger.

On the converse-side, buses are vulnerable to two things: roll-overs, and fires. Both have caused casualties in accidents. In the bus accident up in Williams, CA a while back, the unlicensed bus rolled over upon leaving the road surface. So far, it was believed that the driver had fallen asleep, though exact cause has not been determined. Some passengers were ejected in the rollover. Fortunately, there was no fire.

On the other hand, during the Katrina evacuation of New Orleans, a bus carrying seniors out of the city had a brake fire. The resultant blaze killed several seniors as they were not able to leave the bus under their own power.

That's one more thing to look for when you hire a bus: fire extinguisher.

Bus company: where to get the buses

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Buses are a big part of what makes or breaks the company. Thus, it is necessary to be very careful when buying one. One must consider the ease of repair, availability of parts, availability of mechanics, cost of parts and repairs, and so on in the choice of buses.

Usually, if yo are in the US, you will want to at least consider MCI, as they are built here in North America (mainly in Canada nowadays), and use primarily American components, such as Cummins or Detroit Diesel engines, and Allison Transmissions. (CAT used to make bus engines for a few years, until they got tired of warranty work, and for a while you can buy a Mercedes engine... at a premium)

However, most motorcoaches in the US use American components any way, even though the shells may be made elsewhere. Setra coaches were imported by Daimler Benz, Van Hool by ABC, and Prevost by Prevost Cars. The main difference are in all the other parts, and limited availability of those parts may cause a lot of problems, unless you can secure some local substitutes. For example, Van Hool parts are only available through ABC Companies, based in Minnesota. Fortunately, they have four other branches around the USA. Some parts are easy enough, but some parts must be ordered from all the way back to Sweden, which can cause some white hairs.

Another problem is that some truck mechanics, despite their knowledge, refuse to work on buses. Apparently the are worried about liability issues. Thus, when your bus breaks down on the road, you cannot always call road service or mobile service.

Buses are available used or new. In deed, most buses sold are used, as a bus can last millions of miles with proper maintenance. A brand new bus will cost 300,000+ dollars, while a used one can be as low as a few thousand (depending on age, equipment, and general condition).

So what buses are available?

In terms of buses, there are generally three major types: transit bus, school bus, and motorcoach. Please note that I use these terms rather generically.

A transit bus is what you see used by a city transit agency. They generally have only two axles, widebody, low floor, often with wheelchair lift in front as well as kneeling suspension, to help load the passengers. They have wide center aisles and relatively low number of seats despite their apparent length, and lots of overhead rails for standees, no luggage space at all.

A school bus is always yellow in the US of A, no standing room, but have tight straight back bench seats that can seat up to 80 students, and generally, one door up front and one emergency door in the back. They can be front or rear-engined.

A motorcoach, on the other hand, is what you'd expect a "Greyhound" bus to look like or a typical "charter bus" would look like. They generally have three axles (front, drive, and "tag"), 40 to 45 ft in length (in the US), with luggage room UNDER the passenger cabin, and overhead racks, similar to airline cabin. Usually rear engined.

For this article we will concentrate on the motorcoaches and other vehicles the charter industry uses.

Charter industry, besides, the 40-ft and 45-ft coaches, also may use mini-coaches (2-axle versions of larger coaches), mid-size buses (or midibus, as they're known in Europe) about 30-35 ft long based on truck frames, minibuses (seats 10-28, based on heavy-duty van frame), and the full-sized vans (seats up to 15) and minivans (seats up to 8). We will not get into limos as that's another market altogether.

Motorcoaches have limited number of manufacturers, but the market itself is limited. What usually happens is the coach builder themselves build only the frame and body. The rest of the components are off-the-shelf components. For example, in my Van Hool (from Sweden) coaches, I have Cummins engines (American), Allison transmissions (American again), and mostly American components. All the other coaches have similar options if they are sold in the US.

Bus shell makers are all over the world. MCI, or Motor Coach Industries, is North American, and have been making buses for a long time for the American market. Other manufacturers are Van Hool, Setra (now a part of Daimler-Benz group), and Prevost. Dina coaches are still available, but they're no longer in business. Some new manufacuturers are importing a new bus shell from China and fitting American components.

Similar to airline cabins, the interior of a coach has ground rails for seat mounts that lets you control the number of seats. For normal use, 2+2 rows are used. That normally gives you about 50 seats in a 40-ft long bus, and about 56 in a 45-ft bus, including rear restroom space. Though there are executive coaches that use a 2+1 row configuration that reduces the seating to 33, but the seats are more like business class than coach-class. Most have overhead controls of lights, air blower, and even call buttons similar to airline seats. Some buses even have tray tables and foot rests. The only thing you won't find are floatation cushions and drop-down oxygen masks, and in-seat entertainment.

The "minibuses" and mid-buses are based on Box Vans and Trucks respectively. Due to their frame design, their cabins are higher off the ground, which leads to reduced luggage room as those must be carved out of available cabin space, unlike a motorcoach with rear engine, where the luggage room is integrated BELOW the passenger cabin. Some newer "rear-engine" mid-buses are copying the motorcoach design though.

The full-size vans and minivans are used "as-is", except they may be fitted with a PA system, whereas the buses, even the minis and mids, almost always comes with a PA system. Some also have video and DVD and VHS systems, some with LCD flat panel screens.

Next article: safety features of a bus, and why this ain't something easy.

Bus Company: what it takes to hire the people

So you're wondering what type of paperwork is involved in hiring a driver? Here's a list:

* there's the application itself, of course

* your insurance company will have to approve the driver, by checking his/her DMV records (not too many violations, not suspended, etc.)

* your driver needs to be added to the drug / alcohol testing "pool" to be randomly chosen every quarter for tests

* your driver needs a copy of the company drug/alcohol testing policy, which details what is tested, what circumstances will trigger a test, and where to go for test, among other things

* your driver needs a company policy / employee handbook, which details the company policy on mundane items such as how is salary calculated, lunch time and breaks, vacation times, how is leave calculated, non-tolerance of harassment, and much more

* your driver needs a driver safety policy which discusses the policy company has when it comes to safety... most of which are obvious, but must be written down, stuff like "don't exceed max driving hours", "stop before a railroad crossing", "do not speed", as well as what you will do if you catch them doing so (i.e. disciplinary procedures)

* your driver, in CA at least, needs handouts on disability insurance, unemployment insurance, worker's compensation insurance, social security, and prohibition of sexual harassment brochure.

* your driver needs to get tested for drug/alcohol unless they were tested in last 6 months, and if so, you need to get the test results from their ex-employer. You cannot send them out on a job UNTIL you got the results and they show negative.

* your driver should get a copy of DOT regulations relevant to buses

* your driver needs to sign paperwork that they have received all of the above (initial each item) as well as they promise to read them.

* your driver needs to sign a paper promising that s/he has only ONE commercial driver's license.

* your driver needs to supply a copy of the the license, along with the "medical certificate". This can be used in lieu of a road test, unless that is required under company policy.

There's probably a few items that I missed, but this is the majority of them.

Next article, what buses are available, and which is good for what.

Bus company... what it takes to run one?

Image by Mel1st via Flickr

So what does it take to run a bus company? There's a flood of regulations you need to be aware of, then there's the common business stuff. Let's see what it takes to start one.

1) You need to apply to your state's "carrier authority" as a passenger carrier. In California, that would be the Public Utilities Commission, or PUC.

2) You need to apply to US Department of Transportaiton (USDOT) as a passenger carrier as well. They have different regulations from the state's (usually the state's regulations are slightly stricter). You may want to buy the latest copy of USDOT regulations from a publisher such as J.J. Keller and/or buy a subscription so you are kept updated.

3) In California, in order to get the PUC approval, you also need to get Worker's Compensation Insurance (i.e. Worker's Comp) unless you are an "owner-operator", i.e. you run only one vehicle and you're the driver.

4) You need to get insurance... for a public carrier, it's $5,000,000 liability and $5,000,000 in general.

5) Your buses must be maintained and inspected periodically. Records must be kept of all the inspections, to be produced at any USDOT or CHP audits.

6) Your drivers must be qualified to operate buses (i.e. commercial driver license, class B, with passenger endorsement). And you must maintain a file on each, with their yearly progress, subscribe to their driver status from the CA DMV (i.e. you get notified whenever their file changes, such as tickets, accidents, etc.), and also their test results from drug and/or alcohol tests.

7) You must join a random testing consortium or start your own test program for drugs and alcohol compliance. A full test policy must be published, and list of drivers submitted to the consortium. Before they got tested (unless they can prove they were tested in last 12 months and came up negative) they cannot work for you. And after that they are randomly tested from a "pool" of drivers every quarter.

8) You need to have a place to park the buses. Preferably it is close to the freeway, as well as refueling stations with lots of fuel available (gasoline? diesel? bio-diesel?) and if your buses are restroom-equipped, a place to dump human waste and wash the restroom plus exterior, while the run-off doesn't cause any environmental problems.

9) You need an office where you can post all the relevant Federal, State, and local labor law related posters. Federal, state, and city minimum wages, whistleblower protection, anti-discrimination, family leave act, the list goes on and on, and more are added as new acts pass through Congress.

10) You need to publish an employee manual, where all company policies are listed with relevant laws and requirements. Consult a book or two before writing one, or else you'll miss a lot of required stuff.

I haven't even gotten to the buses and employees yet. :)

Next, the hiring process, and what paperwork is needed just to hire a driver.