- Details
- Category: Industry News
As one of the principal undertakings of the Department of Transportation’s 2009 Motorcoach Safety Action Plan, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has amended FMVSS No. 208, “Occupant crash protection” (49 CFR 571.208), to “require a lap/shoulder belt at all designated seating positions on all over-the-road buses” and “for buses other than over-the-road buses, this final rule requires a lap/shoulder belt at all passenger seating positions on new buses with a GVWR great than 11,793 kg (26,000 lbs.)."
“As Grech Motors manufactures all of our seating in-house, we are ahead of the curve on this requirement and it will not impede our production time whatsoever,” said AJ Thurber, Grech Motors vice president of sales & marketing.
“Safety and FMVSS compliancy are the top priority in our manufacturing process at Grech Motors,” said Grech Motors President and CEO Ed Grech.
Buses built before November 2016 with lap belts will be grandfathered in without having to revise their seats to feature three-point seat belts.
Visit grechmotors.com for more information.
[CD1116]
- Details
- Category: Industry News
A full limo ride to and from their home, office, or school to their registered voting poll as well as complementary water on ice will be provided for anyone wanting to go vote this coming Tuesday.
“This election is one of the most important, if not the most important election in modern U.S. history,” said PrimeTime Owner Venice Gamble. “Regardless of which candidate you support, which political party you follow, or your political beliefs you live by, your voice should be heard. Our company, PrimeTime Limousine, wants to do our part in serving our community in this Democratic process by providing luxury limousine rides completely free to all passengers to go vote.”
PrimeTime will have a fleet of limousines, including, but not limited to 20-26 Passenger Cadillac Escalade limousines and Lincoln Town Car limousines dispatched from 6:30 a.m. to the close of the polls on Election Day.
Visit ptlimousine.com for more information.
[CD1116]
- Details
- Category: Industry News
"We appreciate all of the UMA volunteers who traveled to Washington, DC to participate in the meeting or joined the conversation via the live web broadcast. UMA members Elizabeth Kamalakis, Marcia Milton, Frank Smith, Rob Wicklund, Rick Thielen, Larry Williams, Keith Johnson, Barry Gross, and Buddy Young, as well as others, made a tremendous contribution to the discussions on behalf of the industry," said Victor Parra, President & CEO of United Motorcoach Association (UMA).
Many conveyed the tremendous financial strain that the new rule would place on their businesses, particularly small fleet operators, while others commented they would cease to charter or subcontract other passenger motor carriers.
"Ultimately, there was a gap that that made it difficult for roadside enforcement to determine who to assign vehicle and/or driver inspections,” said Ken Presley, UMA’s Vice President of Industry Relations & COO. “Any carrier operating under charter, regardless of whether that charter is from a typical consumer or another bus company, should either have active operating authority or a properly executed lease demonstrating the authorized carrier for which they are operating. If the carrier cannot produce either, the carrier is out-of-service until such time as they produce active authority. It really is that simple."
In the end, "Requiring a lease between two or more passenger carriers with active operating authority is unnecessary, burdensome, and ultimately harms the consumer. Small and large carriers alike demonstrated that in the discussion."
With members of the Virginia Limousine Association also on hand to speak on behalf of the luxury ground transportation industry, Barry Gross of Reston Limousine was among the many who felt the ruling was needlessly complicated and punished above-board operators.
“On the whole, it would be difficult for FMCSA to leave the current rule intact,” Gross said in an email. “As my colleague Keith Johnson remarked, they will need to make a hard differentiation between subcontracting and leasing. As such, it would seem that sub-contracting between two authorized operators in good standing should remain unchanged, while the Lease Interchange rule should apply solely to operators WITHOUT an existing authority who are engaged by operators WITH an authority, specifically for work under the authorized party’s authority.”
Also according to Gross: “Holes were punched in the argument for minimum 24-hour notice of subcontracting, with operators stressing the fact that contact numbers are not always provided in a timely manner or at all. The examples of schools and government offices were cited as examples of entities who may not be reachable in such instances.”
He went on to say that insurance representatives from National Interstate and Lancer made it clear “in no uncertain terms” that the ruling created an increased potential for the denial of claims issues, as well as “expressed that coverage for operators who engaged in subcontracting would be prohibitively expensive, provided that operators could find coverage at all.”
To view the two sessions in their entirety, the morning sessions can be viewed at fmcsa.dot.gov/event/bus-leasing-roundtable-discussion-morning-session, while the afternoon sessions are available at fmcsa.dot.gov/event/bus-leasing-roundtable-discussion-afternoon-session.
Visit uma.org for more information about the UMA.
[CD1116]