Turn regulations into policy to ensure compliance
I do not need a crystal ball to tell me what comes to mind for most bus company owners when they hear the word compliance. I already know they would say DOT regulations.
Operations Archives - Page 9 of 10 - BUSRide
Bus and coach drivers always there in emergencies
One stormy day in June in Pinellas County, FL, PSTA bus driver Don Dillon drove by a large palm tree burning after a lightning strike next to a home and immediately pulled over to report the fire to his dispatch. He then ran and knocked on the door, hopped the fence and banged on the back windows.
Sorry, a rogue is no reincarnate
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) uses the word reincarnated to describe out of service operators who have returned in no better shape than when they left to do business under a new identity.
Dispatch is the X factor in safety
If an operator were asked to list the most important safety factors in a bus and motorcoach operation, what comes to mind as the five most important points?
Chances are slim to none that dispatch made that list. Many passenger transportation companies do not realize the dispatcher often is the forgotten ingredient in the safety soup.
The good want the bad and the ugly off the road
With the federal transportation agencies catching it from all sides, the announcement by DOT Secretary Ray LaHood for a full departmental review of motorcoach safety certainly touched a nerve in one operator in Texas.
Do not dismiss dispatch
An effective dispatch department can keep a motorcoach operation feeling less like a circus, and more like a well-oiled machine. As a central hub of an operation, dispatch is like the ringleader, capable of taming the beast—or at least keeping the chaos organized, and putting out fires with quick thinking and problem solving.
What we have here is a failure to administrate
In its summation of the Mexican Hat crash of January 2008 that killed nine passengers, the decision by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to also bring the hammer down on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has stirred a smoldering fire.
Paratransit takes a hit in budget decisions; but the beat will go on
In an economy this bleak with requisite budget slashing unfortunately becoming the new order of the day, agencies and companies seem to be operating on the premise that they are just doing what a business has to do.
Cool heads prevail in road rage incident
Jason Pollard, a quick thinking operator for Connecticut Transit (CTTRANSIT), Hartford, CT, and a team of supervisors faced a bizarre scene an agency could never anticipate. Deadheading an empty bus to his route start one early morning in late January, Pollard encountered a man and a woman in the breakdown lane running toward him. As she approached, he realized the woman was trying to escape a frenzied attacker.
How to pass the torch and not get burned
The motorcoach industry is peppered with proof that family-owned and operated businesses can take management transitions in stride. There may be differences in management styles and temperaments, advances in technology and the changing face of today’s economy to contend with, but with proper steps and a little planning, the process can strengthen both the company and the family.