The U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) New Entrant Safety Assurance Process rule took effect December 16, 2009. The rule requires newly registered truck and bus companies to meet stricter safety requirements.
Peter Pan Bus Lines, Springfield, MA, enjoys a history with Motor Coach Industries (MCI). The company was among the first to take delivery of the MCI ®J4500 with its order of 12 coaches during 2001. Other operators who ordered pre-production models include Eyre Bus Tour and Travel, Glenelg, MD.
Keeping you up to date with developments in Europe has never caused me hardship, but some assignments really are fantastic. This letter is from Stresa on the banks of Lake Maggiore in northern Italy, where I visited the Fiat/Iveco test track at Balocco and Irisbus, a division of Iveco and the second largest bus and coach manufacturer in Europe.
Two drivers from Peter Pan Bus Lines, Springfield, MA, Edward C. Hope and Everett L. Anderson representing Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1512, are the 2009 inductees into the BUSRide Driver Hall of Fame presented by 5Star Products.
In an industry where safety compliance and customer service make or break reputations, bus professionals need to know their interests are in good hands out on the road.
It is essentially unreasonable in this day and age to think an affluent demographic will choose to ride a coach on trips more than a few hundred miles.
Typically we think wheel bearing fires occur strictly as the result of traveling for long durations at highway speeds. Not so. In September I experienced a situation so innocuous I never thought it would ultimately cause a wheel bearing fire.
As operators in North America begin to take delivery on Volvo 9700s, Brad Hunter, general manager of Orion Pacific, a family-owned charter tour operation established in 1985 in Orange, CA, agreed to take the coach on the BUSRide Road Test and offer his objective assessment. Orion Pacific operates a mixed fleet of Prevosts and Van Hools.
ARBOC Mobility, Middlebury, IN, worked eight years to perfect its concept of the low-floor paratransit bus debuted one year ago. The Spirit of Mobility bus begins where minimum ADA requirements end; conceived to provide easy and equal access for all passengers, which certainly includes those using wheelchairs, scooters and walkers.
The National Tour Association (NTA), Lexington, KY, has announced new criteria for participation in its China Inbound Program. In conjunction with the China National Tourism Administration and the U.S. Department of Commerce, NTA issued changes in order to ensure Chinese group leisure travelers to the United States have a safe and quality vacation experience.