Letter to The Honorable Ray LaHood, Secretary, Department of Transportation and Anne Ferro, Administrator, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Letter

Dear Secretary LaHood and Administrator Ferro:

I write to urge that you take additional steps to inform customers about the safety records of 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 an 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 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 Virginia last month had 46 safety violations for fatigue alone and was given an unsatisfactory safety rating by the agency. Furthermore, it was revealed that FMCSA was in the process of shutting down the company pending completion of a review. 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.

While FMCSA provides customers with an online safety checklist and access to the safety information for some intercity 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. 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 intercity bus industry.

Thank you for your attention to this request. I look forward to working with you to promote bus safety and customer protection. If you have question, please contact my Washington, DC officer at 202-224-6542.

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