Archie Fleming Receives "Good Driver Award"

Electronic log rule on the horizon, says FMCSA

     

A new electronic log rule could be proposed by September, said Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration head Anne Ferro Thursday, March 14, at a congressional hearing, testifying to a House subcommittee.


The Highways and Transit Subcommittee — part of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure — questioned Department of Transportation administration heads for two and a half hours wanting updates on progress made to rules and initiatives in the MAP-21 highway funding law from last summer.


The law requires that an electronic onboard recorder (electronic log) rule be made by the time the law expires in mid-2014.
Ferro was questioned by the subcommittee’s chairman Rep. 
Thomas Petri (R-Ore.) about potential issues of trying to squeeze every driver’s schedule into what he called a “one size fits all” rule, including scenarios of drivers being close to home or close to a destination and running out of hours.


Ferro said uniformity has been a big issue for FMCSA in making the rule, but that uniformity is a must to “ensure a level playing field.” She also said that most companies who switch find electronic logs to be “effective and profitable,” and that most drivers “over time” prefer EOBRs to paper logs.


She was also pressed by Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) about the problems presented by detention time to hours of service rules and what the agency plans to do about it.


A study is underway, Ferro said, and the agency is expecting results by 2015.

Greyhound Express — Non-Stop Service

Greyhound Express — the company’s premium non-stop service between major cities — will expand to eight new markets on Oct. 31, connecting the Southeast to Southwest and the Midwest to the Northeast. New markets include Montgomery, Ala.; Mobile, Ala.; New Orleans; Baton Rouge, La.; Beaumont, Texas; Erie, Pa.; Buffalo, N.Y. and Oklahoma City, Okla. Greyhound Express, which launched less than two years ago, is available in nearly 80 markets and features the largest network of nearly 800 potential direct-service intercity pairs. Tickets are now on sale at www.mygreyhoundexpress.com, with everyday fares starting at $1.
The new routes include:
• Atlanta – Montgomery – Birmingham – Mobile – New Orleans – Baton Rouge – Beaumont – Houston
• Cleveland – Erie – Buffalo
• Dallas – Oklahoma City
Four daily round trips will be available on the Atlanta to Houston route, Cleveland to Buffalo will offer three daily roundtrips and one round trip will be available between Dallas and Oklahoma City.
“Greyhound has been able to rapidly grow its Express service since its inception due to our customers’ positive response to the higher level of service that nobody else can match in the business. With an average growth rate of more than 20 percent in the markets where we’ve introduced Express, it speaks volumes to how we have successfully upgraded the intercity bus travel experience,” said Dave Leach, president and CEO, Greyhound. “As travelers plan for the holiday season, they know that Greyhound Express allows them to visit friends and family at an affordable price while enjoying a fast, safe and comfortable ride.”

Greyhound Express operates modern, environmentally friendly buses equipped with features such as free Wi-Fi, power outlets, leather seats, reserved seating and extra legroom. Customers can buy their Express ticket online to take advantage of discount pricing, print their ticket at home, or pick it up at a self-service ticketing kiosk, and know a guaranteed seat is waiting for them. Additionally, Express customers can relax in private waiting areas, protected from the elements in a secure environment, with a dedicated guest services specialist to provide an extra level of customer assistance. All tickets are nonrefundable.

Greyhound Express provides non-stop service between major cities, originating from Greyhound service hubs including New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas and Calgary, Alberta. For those who need long-distance connections, stations along Greyhound Express routes allow travelers to easily connect to an established network of more than 3,800 Greyhound destinations throughout North America.
For fare and schedule information and to purchase tickets, visit www.mygreyhoundexpress.com.
About Greyhound

Greyhound is the largest North American provider of intercity bus transportation, serving more than 3,800 destinations across the continent. The company also provides Greyhound Package Express (GPX) and charter services. For fare and schedule information and to buy tickets call 1-800-231-2222 or visit the website at www.greyhound.com. For the latest news and travel deals, follow GreyhoundBus on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GreyhoundBus, Like us on Facebook at www.facebook/GreyhoundBus, or follow our new blog, The Hound, at www.bloggreyhound.com.

Greyhound Passengers Complain Sick Rider

Greyhound Passengers Complain Sick Rider Allowed To Stay On Bus

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – Some Greyhound bus passengers are questioning whether they were exposed to an illness after they say they were forced to share a bus with a sick passenger.
“We both noticed how sick he was and then he started coughing and hacking up blood,” says Erin Dent.

Dent and fellow passenger Doreen Krueger are now concerned that they may have been exposed to Tuberculosis – after riding alongside the sick passenger for nearly two days.  Krueger says he boarded the bus in Los Angeles, California on Saturday.  She says as the bus continued east, his illness appeared to worsen.

“He was coughing and hacking,” Krueger explains.
She says riders grew restless and demanded that the bus driver remove the sick passenger.  Greyhound confirms the driver pulled over in west Texas and called paramedics.
“They stopped in Van Horn and called an ambulance,” recalls Kreuger.  “The ambulance said we couldn’t test him for TB because it would take 2 days.”

The ill passenger was allowed to continue on the trip if he agreed to wear a mask.   But riders say the man was deaf and there was a communication break down.
“Both different drivers said ‘Put hands over your mouth or hold this over your mouth,’ he would not do it,” says Krueger.

Krueger said she and dozens of others wanted to get off the bus but paramedics convinced them to stay on.
“I’d already been with him a day and a half,” she says.  “The ambulance said it wouldn’t make any difference if (I had) already been exposed.”
Dent also says new passengers were allowed to board.
Once the bus reached Dallas, passengers were given complaint forms to voice their concerns, but Dent and Krueger say they need more than a pen and paper to address their worries
“If we’ve been exposed then everybody we come in contact with from now on can be exposed, so we’re real concerned about our families,” says Dent.

Greyhound says it has no record of where the passenger is at this time or if he went to the hospital.  Company executives told CBS 11′s Sharrie Williams that the bus driver followed correct protocol and that the sick passenger did wear the mask as he was instructed to.
CBS 11 contacted Dallas County Health and Human Services about this story, which is offering free TB tests to anyone who was a passenger on the bus.