Bus saftey and some tour operators

[luvrbus]

I was watching the 5.30 news from Phoenix and ADOT was doing safety inspections on buses at the Grand Canyon and took 17 buses off the road for safety reasons and some of the drivers didn't even have the right drivers license.just go to show that with some people its the bottom line only

[jackhartjr]

Hi LuvrBus, please don't take this wrong...I am all for Bus safety, after all I am in the safety business.
However, when they do these 3 or 4 day programs where they inspect hundreds of buses or trucks...they are looking for as many bad numbers as possible.  They want to make the public think everything running out here is junk and driven by bad drivers.  After all they have to legitimize their jobs...so they want the bad numbers.
They will pass by a lot of the good buses and only pull in the ones they have a reasonable chance of putting out of service.  Therefore the numbers are skewed!  (Again, the bad ones need not be out there.)  But again, it is about numbers...and like our liberal press...good news aint good!
One of the tour operators I saw last week had one written up for a missing shock.  On this particular coach you could not see the shock the way the coach is designed...however it was there.
One more was written up for a 'possible' air leak.
My two cents!
Jack

[luvrbus]

you are probably right but this was in one day and i know how they can red tag your truck had a new Pete haul truck with 3200 miles and Kansas gave me $2800.00 worth of fines. most operator think safe and some just don't care around here anyway

[Busted Knuckle]

Well I'll pipe in here from experience! Last week when we went to TX in their anticipation of needing us for a relief effort when we arrived at the ALamodome they were doing full blown inspections (they didn't check noth'n on Katrina & Rita! But that was b-4 the terrible fatal bus explosion too!) I am happy to say that Dad passed his right off the bat with flying colors! And after I got my missing paper work sorted out I did too!  But as much as I hate the hassle I appreciate their efforts at getting the rouge fly by night outfits off the road (at least temporarily!)!  There were quite a few buses that they just shook their heads at and told them to just head back where they came from! And there were just as many, that like me had small issues that could be fixed easily that they told us to go and see if we could get what ever the problem was, and come back and go thru the whole process again! I did and I passed (they only allowed 2 chances after that it was go home or be impounded until repaired). Then there were the ones that were so bad they put out of service and impounded on the spot until fixed or towed! There were drivers who weren't qualified, or had expired licenses or DOT cards, or improper paper work (such as me) and there were some buses that the FEMA/DOT inspectors called tow trucks for! One friend of mine had to go to a clinic and get a new DOT card because his had expired 8 days b-4 but after that he was good to go!
Now as said above about passing over buses/trucks that appear to be in shape to pass! Back in JUNE during the national DOT 72 hr nationwide shakedown they hold every year about then (they publicly warn us operators when it will be, which is always at our peak season naturally) when every DOT officer, every Highway patrol officer, and any others authorized(and some not) to do DOT inspections set up and inspect as many trucks/buses as possible in 72 hrs!
Well this year dad and I were both in Florida when it happened! I was in Panama City Beach and Dad was in Orlando. Well I was in a 5 bus convoy going into PCB when we saw a DOT turn loose a dump truck and fall in behind me. We thought he was going to at least pull me over and check and maybe all 5 of us, but he did a U turn and pulled over another dump truck! After we dropped off or people we went to the hotel for 5 days so we were done dealing with the "shake down"!
Dad was in Orlando and shuttling his group the period of the "shake down" and just about everywhere he went in Orlando DOT was set up and pulling buses in for inspection once they unloaded, but dad noticed they'd look him over and wave him on every time! He didn't know why and wasn't about to stop and ask why!
Well after the last day of the "shake down" was over mom & dad were sitting in  a parking lot waiting on their group when a FL DOT officer pulled a ratty looking local bus into the parking lot and inspected it(which it failed and some one came and picked up the driver), after they left dad walked over and talked to the officer about why it had been shut down! Well for starters the steer axle had no brake shoes at all, the exhaust leaked so bad it'd fumagate ya inside (the driver told the officer that because he said "it was the only way to get his boss to fix it!") it had 5 outta 8 tires that were way to bald and "other issues". Then dad mentioned the "shake down that had just finished and the officer told dad "yeah I'm glad that's over! Because since we're here were tons of buses are they expect us to focus on buses, and I hate inspecting buses!" Well dad casually mentioned that every where he went that they'd look at him closely, but wave him on and he was just sorta curious why! Well the officer looked at dad and then across the lot and asked dad "that yer bus over there?" Dad nervously said yes ! (wondering if he'd just opened a can of worms) The officer looked at him and laffed and told him that "if he was gonna inspect a bus he wanted it to fail to make his #'s look better, and from where he was that bus looked like it would pass!"
So there is truth that #1) They do pick the worst looking ones to pick on and #2) if you keep it looking good, with good tires they automatically think you take good care of the rest of it! FWIW   BK 

[Cary and Don]

I had a run in with the CHP doing commercial inspections of vehicles.  The weird thing was, I was driving a Toyota flat bed.  He said he pulled me over because my rear dualies didn't have enough tred.  I said, I'ts a Toyota not a commercial truck.  Wrong, it was a truck.  I wanted to ask how he could tell my rear tires didn't have enough tred going down the freeway at 60 mph, but I didn't think that would help my case. I guess I looked good for his numbers.

Cary
GMC4107

[Nusa]

In California, ALL pickups are commercial vehicles, like it or not. It's almost silly that my Explorer Sport Trac (with a 4-foot bed) is mandated to have commercial plates and pay a weight fee, while a regular Explorer can have either auto or commercial plates. There is one saving grace -- in CA yellow curbs are loading zones. Commercial vehicles can typically park in yellow zones for as long as 20 minutes, and they don't have to stay with the vehicle. (Exact law varies by local ordinance, but that's the case in San Diego.)