Letter to Elaine Chao, Secretary of Transportation - Require Every Charter Bus to Post Safety Grade in Windshield to Give Passengers Information to Choose a Safer Bus

Letter

Dear Secretary Chao:

I write to urge that you take additional steps to inform customers about the safety records of charter and intercity bus companies. While I appreciate the steps that the Department of Transportation (DOT) and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) have taken to enhance motorcoach safety and compliance, more is needed to ensure that passengers have the best information possible when choosing to ride charter or intercity bus. I urge you to institute a system that informs customers about the safety rating of a company in a way that is easy to understand and that is provided to customers at the point of sale, at the terminals and when they board a bus.

The majority of intercity carriers operating in the United States do a good job of promoting safety and deliver their passengers safely to destinations across the country. Unfortunately, there are those who chose to cut corners at the expense of passenger safety. According to FMCSA, the bus company involved in a fatal crash in Queens, New York earlier this month had received a total of seven unsafe driving violations. Four of those unsafe driving violations were related to speed. The company ranks in the bottom 20 percent of its peers for unsafe driving. Unfortunately, this information would have been difficult to come by for passengers who boarded that bus. It is my firm belief that passengers could have been better informed of the company's safety problems if a system had been in place to inform them of the company's safety ratings at the point of sale and when they boarded the bus. Such disclosure would have allowed passengers to make more informed decision as to which company they chose to travel with.

On September 18th, the private charter bus operated by Dahlia Travel collided with a New York City MTA bus in Flushing, Queens, killing three people and injuring 16 others. The Dahlia bus sped across an intersection at 58 miles per hour, double the street's speed limit, hitting the MTA bus as it completed a turn onto Northern Boulevard. The momentum sent the MTA bus through the side of a fast food restaurant, igniting a small fire. Numerous violations over the past few years have raised serious questions about Dahlia and the safety oversight of the charter bus industry. For instance, Dahlia hired the driver in this accident despite the driver having a criminal record. The driver had been fired from the MTA in 2015 after hitting two cars with his sedan on Interstate 95. He was later convicted of driving under the influence and evading arrest. Last year, a Dahlia-owned bus flipped over in snowy weather on its way to Connecticut and injured 30 people.

Under Section 32707 of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act¸ or MAP-21, USDOT was instructed to establish requirements to improve the accessibility public of safety rating information of motorcoach services and operations and displaying the information at the terminal, on the motorcoach, and at all points of sale. While FMCSA provides customers with an online safety checklist and safety information for some bus companies through an online database, it does not provide riders with information that is easy to access and understand. Many people do not have regular internet access, making it difficult for them research bus companies online or through a mobile application. In addition, the ratings given out by FMCSA - satisfactory, conditional or unsatisfactory - do not give passengers a clear indication of the level of safety of the carrier nor are they displayed at ticket counters or at online points of purchase. Customers should be provided with this information before they purchase tickets and when they board the bus and it should be presented in a way that clearly conveys the company's safety performance rating.

New York City has instituted a system that assigns restaurants a letter grade based on their sanitation scores and requires that these scores be posted at the restaurant. This simple grading system provides customers with the information they need when choosing where to eat and a similar scheme could be used to bring more transparency to the charter and intercity bus industry. I appreciate your attention to this issue, should you need further information please do not hesitate to contact my office.

Sincerely,

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer

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