Better Get Ready for the Feds

[luvrbus]

I hope I am wrong or the agent is wrong but the feds were at my friends place (Arrow in Phoenix) checking every bus they had talking with the agent they do not want older buses on the road period he told me they were cracking down on tour buses,entertainers and RV's and I asked him twice about buses used for RV's.

Funny thing at Arrow they red flagged a brand new H-45 only 3500 miles talk about upset my friend could have chewed 8D nails he was hot about those guys taking his 1/2 mil bus out of service for 24 hrs lol  

I for one have always thought it was just a matter of time before they started fooling with buses even private because last year you would see the DOT numbers on private entertainers buses appearing more and more even on Church owned buses here too much government now days

[Zeroclearance]

What was the Red tag for?   Emissions or Seat belts

Which Federal agency came to visit?   NTSB or EPA

[Oonrahnjay]

    The Feds just shut down a bunch of bus lines on the East Coast.  They said that they were doing a big investigation since a bus driven by a non-US-citizen carrying a load of non-US-citizens crashed on I-95 last year.  Turns out that the driver didn't have a license and fell asleep.  The news spot I heard today said that the bus companies open up and then go out of business and then reopen under different names - keep their buses plain white with no company names on them.  Apparently, Charlotte NC is home to a number of these companies; they specialize in non-sched or semi-sched runs transporting non-US-citizens along I-85/I-95 corridors.  (Note - none of the companies described were the active Cuban/Hispanic companies that specialize in Miami - New York runs.)

[luvrbus]

NTSB with AZ DOT the AZ DOT didn't seem impressed with NTSB when they were told to red flag the bus for 3 bolts on the seat belts they were there just did not have enough threads showing according to the NTSB guy and girl just petty stuff showing their power.

I heard they shut 2 small operators completely down here today they don't want any buses over 11 years old on the road it's not right some operators maintain the older buses and some don't.

Arrow knew it was coming they have been selling off the buses over 8 to 10 years old nothing wrong with the buses they just don't want the hassle the Feds are trying to impose the restrictions on private as they do Transits Authorities difference is the government pays for new buses for cities and don't for the private owners  

[luvrbus]

Just saw a news clip where they shut down some operators PA must be "national get the operator day across the US" are you ok BK

[Dreamscape]

Found this on Escapee's. Not looking good in Texas either.

http://www.rvnetwork.com/index.php?showtopic=98768

[eagle19952]

Found this on Escapee's. Not looking good in Texas either.

http://www.rvnetwork.com/index.php?showtopic=98768

Come on...the guy in TX screwed himself....two different deals....
RVer's are not affected.

[Eagle Andy]

I would agree.( do what you are supposed to do and stay current) Road Tech 2012 is coming in June wait to see how many trucks and Com Bus's you see being stopped.

[boxcarOkie]

Found this on Escapee's. Not looking good in Texas either.

http://www.rvnetwork.com/index.php?showtopic=98768

Come on...the guy in TX screwed himself....two different deals....
RVer's are not affected.

I also went over there and looked at it Paul, and I have to agree.  The guy after being stopped should have dummied up, he shot himself in his own foot.  Nine times out of ten, when they walk up "with the book in their hand" you are going to pay ...  What you say to the cop is what determines what you get (sets the stage), in Texas or anywhere else.

No problems in Texas.

We just did two weeks in the Lone Star State and no one stopped us or gave us a hard time.  I passed a multitude of cops, without incident.  I did have a little disagreement with D.O.T. in Texas in the past on some trailer lights, and when I mentioned to him "I was not commercial" his reply was "the law is the law, commercial or otherwise, makes no diff. to me."  

The ticket was $250.

As for the Escapee thing.  It all kind of smacks of a cop with attitude, but that is just my take on it.  All this other stuff was bound to happen.  Should not be a big surprise to anyone, when they set NAFTA in place, they opened the door for all of this crap.

BCO

[Dreamscape]

Found this on Escapee's. Not looking good in Texas either.

http://www.rvnetwork.com/index.php?showtopic=98768

Come on...the guy in TX screwed himself....two different deals....
RVer's are not affected.

I agree, should have kept his mouth shut.

I still think it is an eye opener. Something to think about.

[Mex-Busnut]

Would somebody who travels full time in non-profit Christian ministry (several on this list) also be considered "commercial"?

[luvrbus]

You are 100% right Don this is going to get nasty before it is over with, just wait and see our exemption status with emissions and safety rules for being a RV is slowly going away. 

The Feds have already started on the construction and off road equipment with emissions laws how long before they pull the exemption for RV's It won't be long .

I can see it now cash for RV clunkers everyone gets and new RV lol

Have any looked and saw how much the value of used seated has dropped in the past year not that I would buy this bus but I looked at 2009 BCI Falcon 45 ft I could have bought for less than a 100,000 just outside the new EPA emissions std, the year model 2000 are in the 60,000 to 75,000 for the MCI 4500

[John316]

Would somebody who travels full time in non-profit Christian ministry (several on this list) also be considered "commercial"?

Dr. Steve,

The way we understand it, if you make any money with/while in/traveling in/around/or any other way, then they might consider you commercial. Hence why we are a fully commercial outfit. We attempt to stay current on everything. It is a chore, but we strive to obey the law whenever we can.

FWIW

John

[Sean]

Would somebody who travels full time in non-profit Christian ministry (several on this list) also be considered "commercial"?

Yes.  Tons of case law on this -- non-profit status does not exempt you from commercial regulations.  For example, if your church owns a bus, and you use it to take 30 church members to a gathering in another state, you must have a CDL driver who is keeping a log and following hours-of-service rules, the bus must have a DOT number, and it is subject to inspection and all commercial rules.

"Ministry" can get tricky, and you might end up testing your luck with the courts.  If you use the coach to transport yourself to ministry events, and/or it has the name of a ministerial organization painted or stenciled on it, most jurisdictions will consider it commercial.  You might get away with claiming your ministry is a hobby, but you'd better be prepared to prove that it is entirely self-funded.  If you pass the collection plate, and any of that money goes into the fuel tank, tires, or even your meals on the road, then the case is already made -- it's commercial.  Note that even non-cash items count, such as campground space or food.

All that said, you seldom hear of anyone getting busted for this just driving down the road.  Usually when these cases end up in court is when the vehicle has been involved in an accident.

BTW, in re the OP, the federal government has no legal standing to enforce anything with respect to private (non-commercial) vehicles.  For that matter, they don't have standing regarding commercial vehicles, either, unless those vehicles cross state lines -- this is a matter of constitutional law and can not be changed administratively.

That being said, as we've discussed here before, the feds use an interesting end-run around the constitution to impose their will on the states, which is the threat of withholding federal highway funds.  So if the feds want states to crack down on RV safety, for example, they can threaten this.  This was exactly how the nationwide 55 MPH limit (remember that?) came about.  A couple of states (Nevada comes to mind) basically chose not to enforce that law, but backed down quickly when the money actually stopped coming.

None of which means you, as a non-commercial operator, will ever be visited or stopped by a federal enforcement agency -- they simply have no jurisdiction to do so anywhere other than on federal land (e.g. National Parks, military bases, etc.).  When it comes to private vehicles, they can only work through the states.

A quick caveat, lest anyone go speeding past a park ranger on the freeway: many states empower sworn federal law enforcement officers to enforce state or local laws.  California, for example, does not have the concept of jurisdictional boundaries -- any peace officer can stop, arrest, or cite anyone anywhere in the state for any crime.  More than one traffic scofflaw has been surprised, for example, when pulled over for speeding on the freeway by, say, the railroad police.

FWIW.

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

[luvrbus]

I have to ask this question Sean why does the EPA have a right to come on to private property with all their crap what is the difference between FTSB and EPA, the FTSB has shut down operators that don't run across state lines even in state only airlines ? them and the FAA ground private air craft every day