Thor Announces Sale Of Bus Business For $100 Million
SOURCE Thor Industries, Inc. ELKHART, Ind., July 31, 2013 /Bus Digest-- Thor Industries, Inc. (NYSE:THO) today announced that it has entered a definitive agreement to sell its bus business to Allied Specialty Vehicles (ASV) for $100 million
in cash, subject to closing adjustments. The sale is subject to
customary closing conditions and is expected to be completed by November 1, 2013.
"Although the bus business has been a valuable part of Thor, this
transaction allows us to focus on maintaining and growing our leadership
position in our core recreation vehicle (RV) business," said Peter B. Orthwein,
Thor Chairman. "From an investor perspective, divesting the bus
business will simplify our overall operations and solidify Thor's
position as the leading company in the RV industry which is recovering
strongly. Pursuing the strategic development of our RV business enables
us to drive growth in sales and earnings, ultimately delivering
improved value for our shareholders."hor's bus business includes Champion Bus, Inc., General Coach America, Inc., Goshen Coach,
Inc., El Dorado National California, Inc., and El Dorado National
Kansas, Inc., which combined represent one of the largest producers of
transit and shuttle buses in North America with bus segment sales of approximately $450 million for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2013. "We are excited to add the Thor bus business to our diverse line up of specialty vehicles," said Peter Guile,
President and CEO of Allied Specialty Vehicles. "We view the
opportunity to expand our business into the transit and shuttle bus
markets as a key initiative in broadening our markets and providing
products that meet the needs of our dealers and end consumers. We are
eager to welcome these new bus brands to the ASV family." Thor will continue to own and operate the bus business until the
closing date of the sale. As a result of the decision to pursue a
divestment of the bus business, Thor will report the financial results
of the bus business as discontinued operations in its upcoming annual
report filed on Form 10-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
which the Company expects to file in late September. The Company does
not anticipate any impairment to goodwill or intangible assets of the
bus business as a result of the sale. Thor expects to report preliminary sales for its fiscal fourth quarter and full year ended July 31, 2013 on Monday, August 5, 2013.
Last week's (2010) school bus accident
involving 80-year-old bus driver Otis Hames raised some concerns on our
website. According to New Hanover County Schools, Hames is not the only
bus driver in his 80s. Now some lawmakers say maybe the laws should be
changed.
By law, there's no age limit to drive a school bus, but after
Wilmington Police charged Hames with failure to yield the right of way,
some are questioning the safety of students. Many of the comments on our website defend Hames, Others argue that an 80-year-old has no business driving a school bus. Drivers are required to pass several tests to renew their
certification, including a physical. Hames passed his back in 2005.
AARP, though, says certain human functions do have a tendency to decline
as people age, including vision, hearing, reaction time and cognitive
and motor abilities. So should the law change? State Rep. Carolyn Justice thinks a change may be needed.
"I, as a legislator, was surprised to find that folks 80 years old
are driving school buses," Justice, a Hampstead Republican, said. "Maybe
we'll discuss having them re-examined every year. Maybe we'll just have
to decide an age cut-off." For now the state will have to rely on current standards for testing
drivers that were recently changed. A representative for Transportation
Services at the Department of Public Instruction in Raleigh said the
state recently changed bus driver certification to a three-year renewal
cycle instead of the old five-year cycle. As for the drivers in New Hanover County, out of the 306 drivers
employed, 41 are between the ages of 60 to 69 years old, 15 are between
the ages of 70 and 79 and there are two drivers in their 80s, including
Hames and a woman a few months older than him. The other 248 drivers are
under the age of 60.
So, Texas wants to raise the speed limit to 85 mph.
What do I think? Well, to tell you the truth, I usually drive 5 mph
under the speed limit. I change this driving habit when my wife is in
the car. Then I go the speed limit.
But the real question (actually there are two big questions) is what
about safety? This is actually a pretty tough question to answer. The
problem is that collisions depend on so many things. If this is too
difficult a question to answer, change it. That is the physicist way.
Simplified Car Model
To explore the difference between crashing a car at 70 mph and 85
mph, I will use a model. This car doesn’t have a crumple zone, it has a
huge spring on the front. Here is a diagram.
Now, I am going to take this spring car and crash it into a fixed
wall. When that happens, the spring will compress. There are two
questions. First, how much does the spring compress? Second, what is
the maximum acceleration of the car during this collision? I like to
look at the acceleration because that is a good indication of possible
injury.
Work Energy
The work energy principle says that the work done on an object is
equal to its change in energy. If I take the spring and car as my
system, then there is no work done on it during the collision. The car
will decrease in kinetic energy and increase in spring-potential energy.
This can be written as:
Here I am calling the “1″ position right before it hits the wall and
the “2″ position when it hit the wall and stops. This means that K2 will be zero (because it is stopped) and U1 will be zero because the spring is not compressed yet. The kinetic energy and spring potential can be written as:
For the spring potential energy, k is the spring constant. A higher k means a stiffer spring. Also, s is the distance the spring is compressed. Putting these expressions into the work-energy principle, I get:
That tells me how much the spring on the car is compressed. This
would be like the amount of damage that was done to the car. Oh, I know
a real car isn’t just like a spring – but this model will give us
something to work with.
Force and Acceleration
What about the acceleration of the car as it crashes into the wall? Here is a force diagram for the car while it is crashing.
The two vertical forces (gravity and the road) clearly are not too
important. They don’t do work (because they are perpendicular to the
motion) and even if they did, the two forces would cancel. What about
the wall? Since the spring is compressed, it pushes on the wall.
Forces are an interaction between two objects. This means that if the
spring pushes on the wall, the wall has to push on the spring with the
same force. I can write the magnitude of the force the wall exerts as:
The more the spring is compressed, the greater the horizontal force
on the car and thus the greater the acceleration of the people inside.
So, the greatest acceleration will be:
And using the value for the maximum compression above, I get:
So what does this mean? It means that if I increase the initial
speed, the max acceleration on impact increases by the same factor.
How About Some Values
I think I can do this without picking a mass of the car. Suppose
that I have a car going 70 mph (31 m/s) and it crashes into a wall with a
spring compression of 1 meter (I just randomly picked that). What
would the value for m/k be?
Now I can use that for the maximum acceleration during a collision. Here are the values for 70 mph (31 m/s) and 85 mph (38 m/s)
Ok, I am happy. First, this is the acceleration at the maximum
compression for a spring. However, my special spring doesn’t bounce
back. Bouncing back would have a much greater acceleration than just
stopping (because of the change in direction of velocity). But I guess
it stops at that instant, so maybe that isn’t so bad.
The other problem is that the useful acceleration data really needs a
time. A human can withstand super high accelerations as long as the
time interval is short enough. So, what is the acceleration as a
function of time? Acceleration depends on position, but position
depends on velocity and velocity depends on acceleration. How about a
quick numerical plot? First, this is the velocity of the car as it
collides.
And here is the acceleration (as a function of time) for the car:
How bad is this acceleration? This is my favorite table that used to be on Wikipedia’s g-force page.
This says that if you are driving and crash into a wall, you would
accelerate “eyeballs out” and could take about 28 g’s for less that 0.01
seconds. This is bad. Looking at the above graph, you would be over
28 g’s for about 0.04 seconds. Note to self. Don’t crash your car into
a wall if you are going 70 mph even if the car has a huge spring on it.
UPDATE: I was wrong (as pointed out in the
comments). The table above says that the time is in minutes, not
seconds. Dooh! Anyway, looking again at Wikipedia’s human tolerance page – it lists 50 g’s as pretty much fatal. So, this is still bad.
Here is a plot of accelerations for different starting velocities.
The faster you go, the worse the acceleration when you crash into
that wall (which you totally should not do). But a couple of key
points:
This is just a model using a spring to simulate the crushing of the car.
The above graph shows the acceleration of the car. The person
inside would have a different acceleration. Just imagine an air bag
inside. The person would actually move forward more than the car (and
decrease the acceleration). The person is not rigidly attached to car
(at least I hope not).
Driving is dangerous. Driving is especially dangerous if there are walls in the road. I would just avoid any road like this.
Maryland launches safety effort to curb car-on-truck aggression
Motorists responsible for 80 percent of wrecks involving trucks, state says
UPS on-road-supervisop Luis Jaramillo talks about tractor trailer blind spots with Bala Akundi with the Baltimore Metropolitan Council (above) during a press event highlighting dangers of aggressive driving. (Karl Merton Ferron, Baltimore Sun / July 17, 2013)
On his way to an event at
M&T Bank Stadium Wednesday to help launch an anti-aggressive-driving
campaign, Luis Jaramillo was cut off. Three times.
"You
have those 'Oh, boy,' moments and your life can flash in front of your
eyes," said Jaramillo, a driver supervisor for UPS in Laurel. "As big
and as brown as we are, to a lot of drivers we're invisible."
State and federal
transportation and law enforcement officials have begun a summer
initiative as part of the Smooth Operator program aimed at motorists who
tailgate, speed and cut off big commercial vehicles.
More than 50
law enforcement agencies across the state will be part of the campaign,
which also will include billboards and social media.
In the past
five years on Maryland roads, 299 people died and 12,951 people were
injured in crashes involving a large commercial truck or cross-country
bus, said State Police Capt. Norman "Bill" Dofflemyer, who commands the
commercial vehicle enforcement division. Spurred by their desire
to get ahead of slower-moving trucks, motorists abandon safe practices
they have been taught. The problem is exacerbated when road rage becomes
part of the mix, he said.
"The idea of teaching the other guy a lesson is not worth it and is totally unacceptable," Dofflemyer said.
Last
year, in 80 percent of accidents involving a car and truck, primary
fault belonged to the car driver, state statistics show. During that
time, police officers issued 400,000 tickets and warnings for aggressive
driving.
Professional truck drivers say it's what they can't see
that often leads to trouble on the highway. Blind spots, which angle out
from the truck's side mirrors to the back bumper about three lanes
wide, often prevent them from seeing approaching traffic.
Another blind spot exists at the back of the truck. "If
you can't see a truck's side mirrors, the driver can't see you," said
Louis Campion, president of the Maryland Motor Truck Association. Even
if the truck driver sees a problem developing, he or she is often
powerless to prevent it. A car traveling at 60 mph with perfect brakes
can stop within 50 yards — half the length of a football field. An
80,000-pound tractor-trailer with perfect brakes requires 75 yards — one
more yard than Joe Flacco's longest toss at an ESPN college football contest.
"We
have to be better than the drivers around us," said Jaramillo of
Eldersburg. "The biggest thing we can do is anticipate what people will
do — because they do it."
The
sleepy driver of a motor coach carrying members of the First Baptist
Church of Eldorado, Texas, on a sightseeing tour in fall 2003 weaved
erratically for miles before swerving off the interstate and striking a
parked semi-truck. The impact crushed the front of the bus and ripped
loose seats.
This crash in Tallulah, La., killed eight people
and made national news. An investigation by the National Transportation
Safety Board (NTSB),
which monitors safety and investigates crashes, blamed the fatigued
driver — and raised broad safety concerns about inadequate federal
oversight and poor seat design.
But if lawmakers or the public searched for the
deaths in that Oct. 13, 2003, crash in the official statistics of motor
coach accidents presented by the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA), they would not find them.
In its 2007 report, "NHTSA's Approach to Motor
Coach Safety," the agency said two occupants of motor coaches died in
2003. The agency, which is responsible for keeping track of accidents
and fatalities, updated that number to three in testimony March 30
before the Senate's Surface Transportation Subcommittee.
A USA TODAY review of federal accident data, news
reports and interviews with local law enforcement authorities
discovered at least 14 accidents and 32 motor coach occupant deaths not
included in NHTSA's official tally of motor coach crashes from 2003 to
2009.
Bus safety advocate Brad Brown of Beaumont,
Texas, whose daughter, Ashley, 16, was among the two members of a
girl's soccer team who died in a bus accident March 30, 2006, says he
isn't surprised. The number of deaths he sees reported in news stories
always seemed high compared with the official statistics.
"When I just think about the deaths that I know
about and I look at the annual data that NHTSA reports, it just doesn't
add up," Brown says.
Issues with data
When NHTSA calculates motor coach fatalities, it relies on the massive Fatality Analysis Reporting System, or FARS, which holds detailed records of every fatal crash in the country.
The system contains no official definition for
motor coach, so statisticians must rely on a crude approximation for
these buses known as "Cross Country/Intercity Bus." Motor coaches are
sometimes listed under other categories.
To some extent, NHTSA officials are hostage to
the information they receive from local authorities. The agency has
tried for years to improve the data reporting, holding training sessions
for state officials who code the data. Mistakes still occur.
In the case of the Tallulah crash, the accident
is listed under the category "Unknown Bus Type." The NTSB labeled the
bus a motor coach in its investigation and in a recommendation to NHTSA.
The accident that killed Ashley Brown
reveals another issue with the FARS data. The bus carrying her soccer
team was a slightly smaller bus the NTSB labeled "mid-size." The NTSB
says these buses perform trips nearly identical to the ones by motor
coaches and have similar safety deficiencies.
Investigators found 33 occupant deaths from 2000
through 2008 on these buses. None of these cases was included in the
NHTSA motor coach data, the NTSB said. Nine additional deaths in these
buses occurred in 2009, USA TODAY found.
"It's shocking to hear that this accident is not
accounted for in determining whether to make changes in how we regulate
transportation," Brown says of his daughter's crash.
Twist of the knife
Jessica Weishair, 16, a high school sophomore from Pelican Rapids,
Minn., was on her way home from a band trip to Chicago on April 5,
2008, when the school's rented motor coach went off the road and rolled.
She was flung from the bus and crushed beneath it.
Officials who coded the accident information
listed the vehicle as a transit bus like those used to transport people
in cities, although it was a motor coach manufactured by Van Hool. The
accident was not included in NHTSA's motor coach statistics.
As a result, the death was not among those cited
in NHTSA's controversial proposal last year to require seat belts on
motor coaches.
Weishair's father, Kim, has campaigned for
improved bus safety since the accident. He says he thinks Jessica would
have lived if her bus had been equipped with seat belts. When told his
daughter's crash hadn't been counted in motor coach accidents, he said
he was stunned.
"It really takes that knife that's sticking out
of your heart and twists it a little bit more," Weishair says. "It's not
going to bring her back, but I do want her counted in these
statistics."
" Marathon Coach is the world’s largest
manufacturer of luxury bus conversions "
Marathon Coach is the world’s largest
manufacturer of luxury bus conversions. Its business is building leisure
type buses for the ultimate in creature comfort. Prevost, a company based in
Quebec, Canada, provides Marathon with a passenger bus chassis that Marathon
employees convert into a luxury coach. Marathon offers two styles of
coaches: the H3-45 that is 45’ long and 12’-1” tall, and the XLII that is
40’ or 45’ long and 11’-7” tall. The interior of each coach is customized so
that no two Marathon coaches are alike. The Prevost chassis carries a
500-horseower Detroit Diesel Series 60 engine, Allison World six-speed
automatic transmissions, and 20-kilowatt Kohler auto-gen generators. Beside
custom coaches, Marathon also builds corporate coaches, customized specialty
trailers and transporters. Marathon has sales and service offices in San
Antonio, Florida and Dallas, Texas. It has been in business since 1983.
Sample floor plan
Marathon has six to eight basic floor plans for
its coaches. The interior floor plan provided in this article shows the
layout of a typical Marathon coach. From available floor plans, a customer
selects anything from flooring to window treatments. Because of the number
options that Marathon provides, a customer usually has to visit the Marathon
plant two or three times to ensure that his or her specifications are met.
Some customers may first lease a Marathon coach to see what it’s like. If
the customer likes it, he or she will have Marathon build a customized one.
The resale value is good for a previously owned coach, so in many ways,
buying a luxury motorhome is like buying a house. Marathon also has spec
coaches that are built for trade shows; however, these coaches aren’t sold.
When a Prevost passenger bus shell arrives at
Marathon’s manufacturing facility, it comes with virtually nothing inside
except foam walls and flooring (often referred to as bowling alleys by
industry insiders). Also, some of the windows are different from those on a
normal passenger bus. Marathon employees then begin to customize each coach
to the customer’s specifications. An electric generator, plumbing, and other
equipment are installed, which accounts for about 50% of the actual work.
The rest is decorating and furnishings. All of the engineering and
customized designs are on Marathon’s computer systems in Coburg, along with
inventory records for necessary parts and supplies.
Besides the equipment mentioned above, other
standard features of a typical Marathon coach include:
• stereo systems in the front, rear, and outdoor entertainment compartments;
• global-positioning mapping systems with pilot and co-pilot screens;
• TechLink® (Marathon's intelligent electrical network);
• full-size refrigerators;
• built-in washer/dryer units;
• standard convection/microwave ovens; and
• European-style cabinetry.
Another standard feature of a Marathon coach is a satellite dish. There are
two types: a stationary dish that has to be manually pointed at a satellite;
and a follow-me (or in-motion) satellite that rotates automatically to find
the signal. Long-term leased coaches are set up with a follow-me satellite
that has a GPS (Global Positioning System) that locks onto the signal. A
white dome on top of the roof covers this type of satellite. Tora Takagi’s
coach has four receivers for four TVs. Satellite dishes also have track
feeds to each receiver because CART drivers and teams need to view timing
and scoring during a race weekend.
One amenity Marathon coaches offer is a slide-out. (Slide-outs are side
compartments that can be extended when a coach is parked to provide more
living space.) Salon and bedroom slide-outs are available for both styles of
Marathon coaches. Jeff Gordon has a triple slide-out for the front left of
his Marathon coach, plus slide-outs for both sides of the bedroom. His
slide-outs cost about $300,000. A single slide-out is typically 10’ x 3’, so
about 30 sq. ft is added with each one. A mechanism in the flooring makes
the slide-outs level with the rest of the flooring. The interior is then
designed around the slide-outs.
More exotic items that have been included in some custom coaches are hot
tubs, saunas, built-in treadmills and corporate conference rooms.
Marathon’s biggest market is Saudi Arabia where a sheik is Marathon’s
largest single buyer. Most of the rest of Marathon’s business is with
private owners, such as Tim Allen and other Hollywood stars. Auto racing
represents the next largest business segment. Marathon got started in auto
racing in 1995 by providing coaches for drivers. Besides CART, Marathon also
provides coaches for NASCAR, NHRA (for example, John Force) and the IRL.
Marathon Coaches in CART
Inside Alex Zanardi's
2001 Motorhome
This year in CART, Marathon has five motorhomes
for Takagi (subleased from Charlie Sheen), Michael Andretti, Newman-Haas,
Team Players, and Tony Kanaan. Also, Mo Nunn’s team has a 53-ft. Marathon
trailer for media and hospitality. In the IRL, Marathon provides two
Marlboro coaches, one Team Penske coach, two Kelley Racing coaches, and some
others that have short-term leases (one year or less). CART drivers and
teams select when and where they would like to lease a Marathon coach based
on convenience. For example, if a CART driver or team doesn’t want to drive
to a hotel during a race weekend, they may choose to lease a coach for a
short period.
The Newman-Haas coach is a VIP model used
strictly as an office; it has no beds or shower. (Carl Haas prefers to stay
at a hotel.) The WorldCom coach is a VIP one for the media.
CART drivers can specify what they want in their coaches, based on their
contracts. Andretti ordered a coach to his specs that included the video
equipment he wanted because he’ll keep his coach for a long time.
Maintaining the Coaches
John is a trouble-shooter for Marathon and is in charge of maintaining its
motorhomes at CART races. He can maintain the interior of Marathon coaches,
but his expertise is with the chassis – something that he’s been doing it
for a long time. John goes out to the racing customer where he/she might be.
He estimates his travel at about 60% of this year’s CART races, down
slightly from last year’s 75%. The bulk of his travel time is from May,
starting with the Indy 500, through Labor Day when he’s on the road about
85% of the time. He lives in Cherry Valley, California (close to Palm
Springs) with his wife, Francia.
He works on air conditioning units and other problems that may arise with a
coach. Power requirements (often provided by a portable generator) can be
tricky and unreliable. Road America, for example, has regular motorhome
electric service. However, the track doesn’t provide water so motorhomes
will used bottled (drinking) water or water from provided by fire hydrants
on the premises. Trucks provided by the different tracks go through the
paddock on race weekend to collect sewage discharge from the vehicles.
John said that setting up a satellite TV dish can drive a person nuts
because it has to be aimed at a satellite with no ground objects in its
path. He told the story of an incident at Portland where a driver parked the
coach in the same place in the paddock for a long time. Over the years, a
tree had grown that eventually blocked the satellite signal. Because the
coach was parked in the team’s favorite spot, the driver decided to cut the
tree down instead of moving the coach.
John works on engines, too. Many problems, however, can be corrected by
giving instructions to the driver over the telephone. The engines in the
Marathon coaches are very reliable and generally last from 500,000-1,000,000
miles. The engines have to be able to take a lot of stop-and-go driving.
Peter Murphy, a long-time driver for the Newman-Haas team, drove the team’s
Marathon coach for 15 years before the engine expired, driving an average of
over 25,000 miles per year. This year, John estimates that there will be
about 23,000 miles of driving to go to each CART track.
If John needs repair parts, he calls the office in Coburg. Some Marathon
employees are on call 24/7 at the plant, so when emergencies occur, help can
be provided and spare parts can be sent out immediately, if necessary. John
uses FedEx a lot to have parts and supplies shipped to him, wherever he may
be. Race weekends are usually fairly hectic, so he either goes to the local
FedEx office to pick up the ordered parts, or he has them delivered right to
the track.
Paddock Parking
In planning for a race, CART does the logistics for each coach. Billy
Kamphausen, CART’s Director of Logistics, and others lay out where the
motorhomes are to be parked in the paddock and then make adjustments as the
coaches arrive. The CART staff knows who will generally arrive first at a
track, based on experience that they have with the coach drivers.
John said that it can take an hour for a coach driver to get his vehicle
into a track’s paddock area. Because CART drivers arrive at the tracks the
same way as the coaches, they usually don’t want to have to drive back and
forth to the track from a hotel, so that’s why many of them have coaches
parked in the paddock.
Racetracks charge anywhere from $1,500 - $3,000 to park a motorhome at a
track, depending on a variety of factors (e.g., electric hook-up). At Road
America this year, the Herdez team had a hospitality tent with a motorhome,
so the team was probably charged $3,000. Tracks also charge teams for sewage
dumping and other charges.
Different types of tracks present different types of challenges for coach
drivers and maintenance crews. Weather usually isn’t a factor except on a
hot day when an air conditioning unit may fail. Temporary street courses
present TV and parking problems for John. Getting sufficient power to a
coach can also be a problem. At Long Beach, for example, the coaches are in
a parking lot, so a lot of cable has to be run to provide power. At Road
America, one the other hand, there are many power hookups, so getting
electricity isn’t such a big deal. Portland, in contrast, doesn’t have much
equipment. At the former track on Belle Isle in Detroit, tow trucks had to
be brought in sometimes because the coaches sank in the dirt where they were
parked in the paddock.
When asked about Mexico City, John said he wasn’t sure which coaches would
be going there this fall for the inaugural race. He didn’t think any driver
coaches would be making the trip, but he thought some hospitality coaches
would go (e.g., Herdez). He said the problem is the long drive from Fontana,
CA to Mexico City. He thought that the coaches would probably go to Mexico
City by first going east through Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas before
heading south through Monterrey to Mexico City. If a coach were to
experience a mechanical problem, John said the problem would be easier to
fix while driving through the southwestern US for most of the trip because
parts can be shipped faster.
Cost
The basic Prevost bus shell that Marathon receives costs $275,000. The H
series coach (one of which Andretti has) is made of fiberglass. The H Series
model coach starts at about $320,000. A typical Marathon coach without
slide-outs is about $1M upon completion, but can go as high as $1.7M.
Slide-outs run $150,000 for one on the front left side of the coach and
$75,000 for one side of a bedroom slide-out. Marathon also sells pre-owned
coaches starting at about $200,000.
Coaches can be rented for just one race. The cost is $1,000/day with a
minimum of five days, so a minimal rental is $5,000. Sometimes customers
will rent a coach for just few races in a row. Alex Zanardi, for example,
leased a Marathon coach for seven races in a row last year. The interior
photo accompanying this article is very similar to Alex’s except the sofa on
the right of the photo was beige to match the rest of the furniture. (The
author was in Alex’s coach at the 2001 Chicago race and can attest to the
quality and beauty of a Marathon coach.)
A Marathon coach can cost $125,000-$150,000 a year, depending on a variety
of factors, such as the amenities desired, contract term, and whether or not
the person requesting a coach is an existing customer. Variable expenses
include the salary of the coach driver and coach washing charges.
The length of leases varies. Andretti has a long-term lease with a full-time
driving team. Takagi also has a long-term lease and a driver. Jimmy Vasser
has leased his Marathon coach since 1996. If a customer has a short-term
lease, John tries to drive the coach to the track when possible.
When it comes to making coach payments, it’s difficult to know who’s picking
up the tab. There are many different ways payments are made. For Marathon
coaches used in CART, payments could come from the team, driver, and/or
sponsor. Also, a driver could make a payment and be reimbursed by his team.
The Future
Marathon hopes that business will be good next year in CART. However, most
CART drivers haven’t yet signed with teams. As far as its CART racing
business is concerned, Marathon won’t know what kind of year 2003 will be
until the first of the year.
Bus travel is one of the safest forms of transportation. However,
many buses lack essential safety features like seatbelts, which allows
great potential for serious injuries and fatalities to occur when a bus
accident does occur. Therefore, it is important to speak with a bus
accident lawyer after being injured in a crash to ensure that your
rights are protected. The provided bus accident statistics were compiled
from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and the Motor
Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS).
National Bus Accident Statistics
During 2008, 311 people were killed and 17,207 people were injured in U.S. bus accidents. During 2009, there were:
13,395 bus accidents total for the United States
FARS reported the 221 of those accidents were fatal and MCMIS reported a total of 231 fatal bus crashes in the U.S.
254 people were killed in these bus accidents throughout the U.S.
15,399 people were injured in bus accidents in the U.S.
Bus Accident Statistics
During 2008, out of the 311 people that were killed in fatal bus
accidents nationally, 39 were in California. In 2009, there were:
1,140 injuries involving bus accidents in California
2,816 fatal motor vehicle accidents, 23 of which involved buses
Wrongful Death Claims
When a bus accident takes a life, the victim’s family is entitled to
pursue compensation by filing a wrongful death claim. This civil lawsuit
can be filed to hold the negligent party liable. Liable parties in
wrongful death cases may include the bus operator, owner, a transit
authority, a governmental entity or even the manufacturer of an auto
product found to be defective. The party deemed responsible for the
fatal accident may be held liable for damages that include lost future
wages, medical bills and funeral expenses.
Personal Injury Claims
Those injured in a bus accident may file personal injury claims
against the negligent party. Damages that may be recovered in this type
of civil lawsuit may include compensation for medical bills, lost wages,
physical pain and mental distress.
to Allied Specialty Vehicles (ASV) for $100 million
in cash, subject to closing adjustments. The sale is subject to
customary closing conditions and is expected to be completed by November 1, 2013.
