By Glenn Swain With inspectors busily making surprise inspections on tour buses across the nation after a rash of accidents in the Northeast this spring, more focus is being directed at how local law enforcement can decrease the number of bad or illegal bus companies that are putting passengers at risk. Texas Democratic Congresswoman Eddie […]
The series of deadly bus crashes this spring in the Northeast has again brought the subject of bus safety to the forefront, as Congressional members get set to debate two proposed bills this year.
Victoria Clark first encountered a motorcoach at age 8 when a prankster mechanic positioned her behind the wheel as he knelt in the stairwell. He was trying to put a scare into young Victoria’s grandfather, Morris Clark, who founded Austin, TX-based Clark Travel in 1981.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and its state and local law enforcement partners conducted more than 2,700 surprise Strike Force passenger carrier safety inspections over a nine-day period from March 28 to April 6.
Pennsylvania-based tour bus company Super Luxury Tours has been ordered out-of-service by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
Sandwiched between the volatile oil markets are motorcoach owners and operators who are having to make decisions on gas surcharges.
Early morning Saturday, March 12, in New York City, a Wide World Tours coach returning from the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut to Chinatown overturned along Interstate 95 in the Bronx and slid into a highway sign, killing 15 people and injuring 20. Monday evening, a Super Luxury Tours motorcoach careened off the New Jersey Turnpike in East Brunswick and struck a concrete overpass support near the Route 18 interchange, lurched across all three lanes and came to rest on the side of the road. One passenger died in the crash. The driver died after being ejected 15 feet through the windshield. These two fatal accidents evoked the public outcry over the overall safety of passengers riding on motorcoaches that has now become predictable. In the aftermath, New York Senator Charles Schumer and Representative Nydia Velasquez complained to the National Transportation Safety Board, citing the first crash “as just another example of an industry that in many cases is operating outside the bounds of city, state and federal transportation safety guidelines,” according to the Associated Press.
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Kobussen Trailways has been a family affair since 1938. The current owner Dan Kobussen, whose grandfather, Elwood Kobussen, founded the company, believes it is important to have family involved in the company. He says the Kaukauna Board of Education originally chose Elwood, also known as “Grandpa Goldie,” to transport out-of-town students to and from Kaukauna High School.
Visitors to New York City are enjoying a new experience called THE RIDE.