The Closure of Owen Sound’s Bus Terminal

The closure of Owen Sound’s bus terminal and Greyhound’s decision to cut its routes to the city has put a spotlight on transportation issues in our area.

Specifically, it has highlighted the importance of intercity bus service to rural communities.

Students attending school in Toronto, London, Barrie and elsewhere, for example, rely on the bus to get to and from their rural Ontario homes.

People use the bus to get to hospitals in major Ontario cities, to visit family in southern Ontario and to access services not found locally. Some people just want to hop aboard a bus to spend time in Toronto.

Despite the need for bus transportation, options for people in rural Ontario, including Grey-Bruce, continue to decline.

Greyhound now only makes one trip daily into and out of Owen Sound. The bus takes people to Toronto via Collingwood and Barrie. Aboutown Northlink only makes a trip between Owen Sound and London three times a week.

People wanting to get to Orangeville, KitchenerWaterloo, Guelph, Hamilton or other cities must transfer to another bus in Toronto or London. It can be a long trip.

The provincial government should step up and do something about this transportation shortage. More should be done to encourage bus companies to make the trek to and from Owen Sound.

Part of the problem, it seems, is Ontario’s current regulatory framework for intercity bus transportation.

Companies must apply to the Ontario Highway Transport Board to receive a permit before it can operate a new route.

John Emberson, president of Coach Canada, said the process is time consuming and expensive. The applicant must provide a business plan, among other things, to the board.

Other companies can object to the permit request, he said, and the board will often side with the firm that currently offers the same or a similar route.

The process limits competition, he said, and can allow some companies to hold a monopoly on certain routes.

Coach Canada, which owns more than 200 buses, is among the companies lobbying the province to deregulate the system.
Alberta and Manitoba have done it. Alberta implemented a new modernized framework in 2011. Companies there now have the option of running a smaller bus for certain routes or creating a flexible schedule without, as happened in the past, having their application objected to by existing carriers, which would have triggered a full-blown hearing.

It’s time for Ontario to take a serious look at doing the same.
There are also calls from outside of the industry for the province to make changes to improve Ontario’s regional transportation network.

Owen Sound Mayor Deb Haswell, for one, has called on the province to explore ways to encourage more buses to run routes to the city.

The Southwest Economic Alliance (SWEA), meanwhile, is calling on both the provincial and federal governments “to work together to plan and adequately fund a regional transportation network.”
A summit, with politicians, transportation companies and advocacy groups, is scheduled for Nov. 14.

“The objective is to generate cooperation, planning and policy development which will lead to more transportation in southwestern Ontario,” SWEA says.

It is our hope that SWEA will have luck with its campaign.
However, it’s important that Owen Sound also benefit from any improved regional transportation system.

Without changes, the city could become even more isolated from the rest of southern Ontario.

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.

Software Allows Insurers to Track Driving

 

 

New software allows insurers to track driving habits and personalize premiums

OMAR EL AKKAD

The Globe and Mail

Published Monday, Aug. 19 2013, 6:00 AM EDT

 

Paul-André Savoie is changing the car-insurance industry by helping insurers monitor every move you make.
Customer data provided by Mr. Savoie’s tech company, based in Laval, Que., turns a car-insurance bill from a static monthly figure into something variable – the more unsafe a customer’s driving habits, the higher the cost.

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“It creates a huge financial incentive on a monthly basis to drive safe,” said Mr. Savoie, president and CEO of Baseline Telematics. “We are attracting safer drivers and rehabilitating other drivers.”A handful of Canadian insurers have started testing the software in pilot programs. 

Those programs are overwhelmingly aimed at drivers 25 and younger. In some cases, it is the drivers’ parents signing them up to keep close tabs on their driving habits.Since the inception of the modern car-insurance industry, premiums in Canada and much of the world have been determined by broad criteria, including age and car model. 


However, the ubiquity of movement sensors available in many modern vehicles – as well as the ability to analyze the massive amounts of data produced by those sensors – has created a new brand of insurance.




By measuring exactly how each of their customers drives in real time, insurers are starting to charge individual premiums based on monitored driving habits.


For 17 years, Mr. Savoie’s company has been building software and hardware for the insurance industry. Over the past year or so, a couple of Canadian insurers have started deploying Baseline’s namesake technology, “telematics.”
The product collects information from the vehicles of individual drivers and allows insurers to bill their customers according to these data. The software uses sensors to monitor speed, acceleration, braking and other metrics.


That information is then analyzed for signs of unsafe driving, such as hard braking or speed-limit violations (the software monitors a vehicle’s location to determine whether drivers are keeping within limits).


While deployment of the technology is still in the testing stages among a handful of insurance companies, its usage reflects the widespread adoption of tools that allow companies to track customer habits.


The ability to monitor and adapt to the behaviour of individual customers, for example, was part of the rationale for last month’s announcement by Loblaw Cos. Ltd. that it will acquire Shoppers Drug Mart Corp. for $12.4-billion. Shoppers’ Optimum loyalty program will give Loblaw purchasing information on some 10 million customers.


The interactive and social-media-friendly nature of Mr. Savoie’s software is meant to quell potential resistance from younger customers. Customers get weekly and monthly updates on their driving habits, are shown how they compare to others in their age group, and have the option to publish that information on Facebook.


“By people getting regular feedback and seeing in graphical illustration how they’re driving compared to their peers, it has an impact on how they drive,” said Don Thompson, vice-president of product management at Saskatchewan Government Insurance, which is testing the first telematics program for motorcycle insurance.
The telematics system itself is largely reliant on “big data” analytics – a fast-growing industry focused on automatically sifting through huge amounts of information to find previously undiscovered trends.


To do that with the data collected by the telematics systems, Baseline sought the assistance of SAP, an analytics company whose customers include F1 racing teams and life-insurance providers – the racing teams use SAP technology to collect and analyze data from cars in real time during races, and the insurers use it to look for patterns consistent with fraudulent claims.


Baseline charges its customers an activation fee up front and a monthly subscription fee afterward. The exact cost of the system differs from insurer to insurer.


By sifting through the data collected by the telematics program, Baseline and its customers are starting to see the patterns that help to flag high-risk driving. For example, frequent hard braking is a strong indicator of unsafe driving in cars, and the strongest indicator with respect to motorcyclists is cornering. As a result, Baseline’s telematics hardware for motorbikes includes a 3-D accelerometer designed to measure the way a rider takes a corner.


In time, insurers say the new system will allow them to pinpoint every customer’s risk level, and charge them accordingly, instead of relying on broad metrics.


“When somebody is a very bad driver, we see that after few months they’re not with us any more – they discover they’re not good and they go with a traditional insurer,” says Suzanne Michaud, vice-president of client experience at Mobiliz, which is running a telematics insurance program in Quebec.


“With telematics we don’t charge you an average premium, we charge you your premium.”
The telematics-based systems still constitute a tiny fraction of overall insurance programs in Canada, and face growing pains. For example, the motorbike version of the technology is so new that very little data on the metrics associated with safe motorbike driving exist. That prompted Saskatchewan Government Insurance to ask skilled riders to come out to a local track to demonstrate proper riding techniques on motorbikes fitted with monitoring equipment, which provided some baseline data.


However, there are many privacy issues related to the frequent collection of data from drivers, including their location and speed. Protocols are being developed on a company-by-company basis on how data is stored and secured, as well as what to do if the data show extreme violations, such as speeds so far above posted limits that a driver could be criminally charged. In such cases, some insurers have opted to slap the customer with an immediate extra charge on that month’s bill, hoping a hit to the wallet will help change behaviour.


But despite the privacy issues, Mr. Savoie is adamant that telematics-based policies will soon become the norm in Canada and throughout much of the world. In the early days of the service, Baseline had to install special hardware in vehicles to collect data. Now, the company is working on a smartphone app, which uses the sensors on those devices to collect the same information.


Soon, the company won’t even have to do that, Mr. Savoie said, because most car companies are already building those sensors into the cars.


“I think in the next two or three years, you will not be able to buy a car that doesn’t have a telematics connection back to the manufacturers. I think cars are basically going to be smartphones.”
But perhaps the most significant impact of telematics-based insurance is its applicability to myriad other industries. Richard Daukant, national vice-president of strategic engagements at SAP, notes that there has been an explosion in so-called body metrics hardware over the past few years – wearable monitors that collect information such as heart rate, physical activity and calories burned.
Now, he says, health insurance companies are starting to take a long look at that technology, hoping to harness it for a new type of customized insurance policy, whose premiums are determined by each customer’s lifestyle.



“It’s almost pay as you live, not pay as you drive.”

DesignLine Files for Bankruptcy Protection

Charlotte hybrid busmaker DesignLine files for bankruptcy protection

 

Charlotte busmaker DesignLine Corp. — which has struggled with production delays and lawsuits since relocating its headquarters here from New Zealand in 2006 — filed Thursday for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, according to court documents.


The company halted work at its southwest Charlotte plant late last month. In a written statement at the time, it called the action temporary.


In the bankruptcy filing, the company listed assets of $14.06 million and debts of $37.5 million.


Its largest creditors listed in the filing include:

•$3.64 million to New Jersey Transit for payments on buses not delivered.
•$2.86 million to Eagle Services Limited, listed as a stockholder.
•$845,645 to Charlotte insurance executive and investor Cameron Harris, who is listed as a stockholder.


•$233,090 to Charlotte law firm Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein.
DesignLine’s board of directors approved the voluntary bankruptcy filing at a meeting Monday, according to the filing.
The company is being represented by Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough and Richards, Layton & Finger. GGG Partners was listed as the company’s financial adviser. GGG Partners Managing Partner Katie Goodman is named as chief restructuring officer in the petition.


The company is best known in Charlotte as the former employer of then-mayor Anthony Foxx, who is now the U.S. secretary of transportation. Charlotte Douglas International Airport also runs several of DesignLine's hybrid electric buses as shuttle transportation to CLT parking lots. In 2011, one of those buses caught fire.


The busmaker had started off 2013 with good news: Its compressed natural gas coach bus has passed all phases of the critical Altoona bus test. The Altoona Bus Research and Testing Center in Pennsylvania vets new-model vehicles for the Federal Transit Administration. Some transit agencies, including Charlotte’s, require the green light from Altoona before buying particular makes.

Bilbrey Stays The Course with MCI® J4500

Bilbrey Tours stays the course with new MCI® J4500

SCHAUMBURG, IL — July 25, 2013 — Repeat business doesn't just drive Bilbrey Tours — it also informs the company's purchasing decisions. Case in point is the Abilene, Texas company's new MCI J4500, delivered July 22.

"We think the new coach is beautiful, and MCIs have always worked well for us," said Lena Bilbrey, president. "That's why we decided to stay with MCI."

The 2013 J4500 is one of two coaches in the Bilbrey fleet, joining an MCI E4500. The new J4500 has a clean-diesel Cummins engine, three-point seatbelts and a media hub for tour escorts, along with all the standard safety and performance features for which the best-selling model is known. The model underwent a redesign for 2013, gaining a taller look, distinctive angled headlights and technology advances including Actia multiplexing.

Having only two coaches allows Bilbrey Tours to lavish personal attention on its customers, about 80 percent of whom are repeat clients, according to Bilbrey. "This is what we can do well," says Bilbrey, who owns the company with her husband, Cleve. Her daughter, Rhonda, is also an integral part of the business, which employs five people full time, plus eight additional part-timers. "We are very hands-on. We make a real effort to give our customers the best value and let them know how much they're appreciated. Our customers become our friends."

Now in its 24th year, Bilbrey Tours started as a home-based business, growing out of Lena Bilbrey's love of travel. The company moved into office space and bought its first coach in 1998.

Bilbrey Tours runs about 40 tours a year, mostly across the United States and Canada, but also to international and cruise destinations. Bilbrey says she has sent customers to all 50 states and 47 countries.

"We specialize in wholesome travel," said Bilbrey. "Whether it's a sporting event or a gospel concert or a quilt show, and whether it's a tour of two days or 15, we will have something to please everyone."

Including, she says, a shiny new coach.

Bilbrey Tours is a member of the National Tour Association, Cruise Lines International Association and the American Bus Association. For more information, visit www.bilbreytours.com.

About MCI

Headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois, Motor Coach Industries (MCI) is the leading intercity coach manufacturer in the United States and Canada, with sales, service and repair facilities in both countries. The MCI J4500 coach model has been the industry's best-selling intercity coach for nine consecutive years. MCI's D-Series is the best-selling line of coaches in industry history, with more than 13,000 units built. MCI is also the distributor of the Setra S 417, Setra S 407 and Setra parts in the U.S. and Canada. The company offers 24-hour technical support and industry-leading technician training along with the market's most extensive aftermarket parts and repair service.

Press contact: Patricia Plodzeen Public Relations, 847-283-0883; or Motor Coach Industries Marketing Department, 847-285-2035.

FMCSA Shuts Down Florida-based McRea

FMCSA Shuts Down Florida-based McRea Transportation, Inc.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) today announced that Hialeah, Fla.-based McRea Transportation, Inc. (USDOT No. 1838244), one of two unrelated bus companies that had stranded New York City-bound passengers in Virginia following a mechanical breakdown last month, has been declared an imminent hazard to public safety and ordered to cease all operations. The company was served the federal orders July 24, 2013.
“There is no place on our highways and roads for bus operators who disregard safety,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “Passengers should be able to trust that the company they use will be able to get them to their destination in a safe and timely manner.”

McRea Transportation operated a small fleet of motorcoaches and had recently conducted passenger services for a tour provider between Atlanta and New York City.

On July 11, 2013, a McRea Transportation motorcoach broke-down in Northampton County, N.C., along Interstate 85 at 2:30 a.m. Fifty passengers were later transported to a Virginia welcome center by state law enforcement officers where they waited approximately 10 hours for a replacement motorcoach to arrive.

On July 15, 2013, FMCSA safety investigators launched an investigation of McRea Transportation and found that the company owners failed to monitor and ensure that its drivers complied with federal hours-of-service requirements and controlled substances and alcohol use testing regulations. Drivers’ duty status records books were also falsified in an attempt to operate a 50-passenger motorcoach on a trip from New York City to Atlanta.

Investigators also found that McRea Transportation had failed to repair vehicle deficiencies thereby posing an ongoing and imminent hazard to the public. A copy of the McRea Imminent Hazard Out-of-Service Order can be viewed at www.fmcsa.dot.gov/documents/about/news/2013/McReaTransportationInc.pdf. 


“Safety is our highest priority and we charge every bus or trucking company to make it their number-one priority as well,” said FMCSA Administrator Anne S. Ferro. “Every driver and every passenger deserves to reach their destination safely. Companies that needlessly place the traveling public at risk will be shut down.”
This action becomes the 17th out-of-service order issued by FMCSA since the deployment in April 2013 of more than 50 "Operation Quick Strike" safety investigators targeting high-risk passenger carriers.


In the past three months, FMCSA has also revoked the operating authority of ten additional bus companies following compliance review investigations that resulted in an “unsatisfactory” safety rating.


Since the beginning of 2013, FMCSA has issued out-of-service orders to a total of 24 bus companies and nine trucking companies. The agency has also declared seven commercial driver's license holders as imminent hazards, blocking them from operating in interstate commerce.

---

As part of FMCSA's work to make safety data readily available to the traveling public, the SaferBus mobile app gives bus riders a quick and free way to review a bus company's safety record before buying a ticket or booking group travel. The SaferBus app, available for iPhone, iPad and Android phone users, can be downloaded for free by visiting FMCSA's “Look Before You Book” webpage at www.fmcsa.dot.gov/saferbus.
Travelers planning a bus trip are also encouraged to think safety first before buying a ticket or chartering a bus by using FMCSA's multilingual passenger carrier safety checklist at: http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/safety-security/pcs/Index.aspx.
FMCSA urges consumers and whistleblowers to report any unsafe bus company, vehicle or driver to the agency through a toll free hotline 1-888-DOT-SAFT (1-888-368-7238) or FMCSA's consumer complaint web site: http://nccdb.fmcsa.dot.gov/HomePage.asp.
Consumers who bought a ticket on a bus company that FMCSA has recently placed out-of-service may be entitled to a credit from their credit card company under the Fair Credit Billing Act if they paid for the ticket by credit card. For more information visit: http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/safety-security/pcs/bus-credit-refund.aspx.

Appeals Court Upholds Most of HOS Rules

WASHINGTON — A U.S. appeals court on Friday upheld the majority of new federal hours of service rules, but rejected a 30-minute rest requirement for short-haul drivers, potentially ending a vicious and drawn-out battle between the trucking industry and regulators.


The new rules, which took effect on July 1, require truck drivers to take a 30-minute break after working eight consecutive hours and limit the use of a 34-hour restart provision designed to get drivers back on the road more quickly after completing a week’s work. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration rules are expected to tighten truck capacity, resulting in higher costs for shippers.


The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit decision responds to two challenges. The ATA challenged the rules in federal court, arguing a change in truck driver hours of service was unwarranted based on recent improvements in truck safety and wasn't supported by scientific data. The Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, Public Citizen, and the Truck Safety Coalition also challenged the rules, arguing they didn't go far enough to ensure truck safety.


Complete coverage of trucking hours of service
“It is often said the third time’s a charm,” Judge Janice Rogers Brown wrote. “That may well be true in this case, the third of its kind to be considered by the Circuit. With one small exception, our decision today brings to an end much of the permanent warfare surrounding the HOS rules. Though FMCSA won the day not on the strengths of its rulemaking prowess, but through an artless war of attrition, the controversies of this round are ended.”


But evidence suggests the hours of service debate is far from over.
The FMCSA estimates the new work rules will prevent 1,400 crashes, 560 injuries and 19 deaths a year, with an estimated $280 million in savings from fewer large truck crashes and $470 million in savings from reduced fatigue and improved truck driver health.

Diesel Fuel Declines Second Straight Week

Diesel dipped 0.6 cent to $3.909 a gallon, the first downturn following four increases, while gasoline dropped for a second straight week, the Department of Energy reported.


Gas fell 1.4 cents to $3.632 a gallon, DOE said late Monday following its weekly survey of filling stations.


Diesel had gained nearly a dime in the previous four weeks, while gasoline fell more than 19 cents in the two weeks prior to this week and last week, in which it fell a nickel.


Despite the slide, Monday’s diesel price is 5.9 cents above the same week last year. Gas is 1.3 cents less than the same week last year.
Oil fell 38 cents Monday but held over $106 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg News reported. Crude futures slipped to $106.56 a barrel on the Nymex.

Each week, DOE surveys about 400 diesel filling stations and 800 gasoline stations to compile national average prices.

Advoiding... " The Right Turn Squeeze "

Right turns are a frequent problem for trucks. Accidents can occur when other vehicles squeeze into the area along the right side of
your vehicle. The other vehicle may beat tempting to pass on the right or make a right turn. While the other vehicle may be at fault, defensive drivers must anticipate the errors of other drivers.

 Recognize that automobile drivers are constantly looking for ways to get around your truck. Assume they will make mistakes.

What is right turn squeeze?

Collisions with a vehicle attempting to pass on your right side
while you are attempting a right turn maneuver.Why is this a problem to be concerned about According to many insurance carriers, in over 90% of right turn squeeze situations either the
truck driver is cited for unsafe turning or without a citation
issued the trucking company still must pay for the damage to
the other vehicle.

What causes the problem?

Setting up wide or swinging too wide when making a right turn?

Failure to signal turn?

Other motorists not recognizing turn signals or setup for right turns of trucks?

Other motorists in too big of a hurry to pass the truck?  How can it be prevented?

Anticipate the turn. Set up for the turn, blocking the right side of your vehicle,so that cars cannot enter that area.

Check behind you. Monitor your mirrors as you approach your turn, so that you know what traffic is behind you.

Get in the proper lane as quickly and safely as you can before you turn. Atleast 10 feet before the turn. It is important to establish your position.

Use your turn signal and slow down. Communicate your intent to turn.

Keep the rear of the vehicle close enough to the right curb to keep vehicles out. Don’t allow the option to cut inside you, block the curb with your rear tires.

Stay within four feet of the curb, but avoid scraping or climbing the curb. Check your right mirror prior to and during your turn to make sure there are no small vehicles in the way. Wide shoulders and parking lanes may provide an opportunity for automobiles to sneak in. Beware of Sharp right turns around poles or into narrow drives that may cause you to swing wider than normal and give up your lane.

Make your turn slowly. Travel at a speed that allows you to monitor your mirrors and stop, if necessary.

Make your turn without crossing the center line of the street you are leaving and, if possible, not into the opposing traffic lanes of the road you are entering.

Where are some specific areas that may open up the possibility
of accidents with right hand squeeze?

Wide streets or streets with wide shoulders where cars try to cheat to get around us ?

Sharp right turns (possibly around poles when we have to cheat to the left prior to making the hard right turn) ?

Bike paths ?

Question for discussion -

1) Are there particular locations in our service area that present right turn squeeze hazards?

2) Where will our next accident occur?

Right turn squeeze or otherwise?

3) How can it be prevented?

The Celebrity Coach of America Experience

The Celebrity Coach experience begins when the Van Hool arrives at the door.

  When she set out to establish her own motorcoach operations in 2003, Paulina Salen, president and CEO, Celebrity Coaches of America, Las Vegas, NV, was not about to settle for anything less than the Wow! Factor.


  She envisioned a small to mid-size company of no more than 25 vehicles that would combine limousine and luxury coach service. Salen and her team would deliver customer service to the Nth degree for both the business community and the party crowd in a town marked by its penchant to pamper and indulge. Seven years later: mission accomplished.


  The proverbial bus bug bit Salen during her college years in Vancouver, BC, Canada, where she worked in dispatch for a motorcoach company. She later relocated to Las Vegas, and spent five years with Nevada Charter, where she moved from dispatch to general manager before the company sold to Coach USA in 2000. 

  During that time she saw Nevada Charter grow from four coaches to 62 at the time of the sale. Salen stayed on as sales director under the new owners for two years before leaving to eventually form her own do-it-all transportation company.


  Salen, a staff of nine and 38 drivers provide group charters, corporate and sports team transportation, airport transfers, shuttles for conventions and tradeshows, party coaches for weddings, reunions, specialized tours, sightseeing and school field trips.

  A fleet of 22 Van Hool luxury motorcoaches serves the two divisions of the company. The motorcoach division provides the basic services, while the limousine coach division specializes in customized transportation experiences. Eleven coaches with standard seating configurations handle the basic coach charters and transport. 

  The other eleven party buses feature custom interiors that Salen has individually designed to satisfy a wide array of customer preferences. Two M1235s from ABC Companies also outfitted in custom décor serve as executive limousine coaches for smaller corporate groups.

Celebrity Coaches founder and CEO Paulina Salen is hands on in customer service.

  The themes range from reserved and subdued appointments to flamboyant leopard and zebra upholstery. The party coaches and limos feature bars, flatscreen TVs, elaborate sound systems and electronics, as well as fiber optics.

  “Celebrity Coaches is a very manageable niche that allows us to pay closer attention the details, which makes us who we are,” says Salen. “We never want to be any bigger than we are now. Our customers know us as the company that can personalize everything.”

  The Nevada Minority Business Council named Celebrity Coaches best in professional service in 2006 and nominated the company again this year.

  “Our largest segment of business is with business groups that prefer the privacy, flexibility and amenities enjoyed in the executive limousine coaches,” says Stacie Lu, vice president, sales and operations. “But this is Las Vegas and everyone comes ready to have fun, and our coaches and operations certainly cater to their high expectations.”

  Lu says corporate groups can conduct meetings and presentations on board. With advance notice and some pre-planning, Celebrity Coaches can have power point and visuals ready when they board.

  Salen says with the size of Celebrity Coaches firmly established as midsize only, she has been able to concentrate on her customer service priorities and her plan to build the company headquarters and maintenance facility. Taking advantage of the depressed market in Las Vegas, Salen purchased the land in 2006 and began construction on the permanent facility two years later. It opened in November 2009 complete with administrative offices and a three-bay maintenance shop.

Eleven party buses feature custom interiors that satisfy a wide array of customer preferences.

  Now situated less than a mile from McCarron International Airport, Lu says Celebrity Coaches is positioned to make transition from air to ground fast and seamless — even with those unpredictable blind arrivals.

  “We make every effort to get all the pertinent travel information up front so we can greet our customers on time and guide them as effortlessly as possible,” she says. “But we always have to be ready to think on our feet.” 

  Salen says even the more difficult customers who may not plan as carefully expect and do receive the same high level service.
“We work with it,” she says. “I believe this is largely why our business has survived and grown.”

  The company philosophy carries into every department and every employee. Salen says all Celebrity Coach drivers receive cross training on each of the vehicles, as everyone is a little different. They also learn to quickly read the varying mix of customers. 

  She says for them to know when to remain subdued and less engaged for the corporate clients conducting business on board is as important as keeping it lively for revelers out on the town.

Paulina Salen personally designs and appoints the coach interiors.

  “Some customers want all the information, every detail about Las Vegas, we can throw at them,” say Salen. “Others just want to be left alone. We have become very adept at knowing when to turn it on when to back it off.”

Either way, says Salen, the mission is to wow the customer.

Analysis Show The Fiscal Benefits of Buses

Deron Lovaas Posted August 1, 2013 

As I’ve written (here, here and here, for starters) it’s high time buses received more attention and investment in this country. Everyone loves to talk about other modes – especially bikes and trains – as the sine qua non for energy-efficient, livable and sustainable communities. 

Meanwhile, year in and year out, ridership on buses eclipses other non-auto modes. They are oft-maligned workhorses of the transportation system. Thankfully, within cities there’s a sizzling new entry in the bus marketplace – bus rapid transit. As friends noted a few years ago in a report, these lines are cropping up across the country as signs of transit innovation. Launched originally in Curitiba, Brazil decades ago by a visionary mayor (don’t cities usually lead the way?), this means of bus travel is spreading around the world as well as across the U.S. In fact, there’s even an effort afoot to standardize and grade “bus rapid transit” projects to make sure they live up to the name so the brand won’t get tarnished over time. Now is the time to turn our attention to bus routes between cities. 

Right now more than 16,000 buses ply our roads, connecting nearly 2,800 cities and towns. This week friends at Taxpayers for Common Sense, the Reason Foundation and the American Bus Association Foundation released an analysis by respected consulting firm MJ Bradley and Associates, comparing bus to Amtrak service linking 20 city pairs. One of the performance metrics examined is air pollution, and buses shine here (although, to be clear, both modes shine when compared to driving alone). 

The graph below illustrates this for heat-trapping carbon dioxide pollution: Busgraph1.jpg While this may seem surprising considering the bad rap buses get vis-à-vis tailpipe emissions, it makes sense when you think about it. First of all, trains pollute too, although you (like me) probably suffer from “availability bias,” meaning that images readily spring to mind of being stuck in traffic behind a bus annoyingly spewing pollution while none of us gets trapped behind a train. But buses are getting cleaner, and trains aren’t pollution-free (the analysts note that the electrified Northeast Corridor is cleanest). And more importantly, these vehicles are only as clean on a per-passenger basis as their load factor determines. 

A fully loaded vehicle looks good compared to an emptier one, per-passenger, as you can see from this graph from a report I co-wrote a few years ago (pdf of whole report here): 

What about costs? 
Again, buses compare well. First the analysts examined fares charged, finding that while they vary they are usually comparable on these routes. However, the cost differential between them is huge, as you can see from the graph below. Busgraph2.jpg How is the gap filled? If you guessed government subsidies, you are right. 

The graph below shows just how large they are, with two exceptions: The Boston-NYC and Washington, DC-Lynchburg, VA stretches of eastern corridor service. These latter routes actually make enough revenue to more than pay for themselves. The analysts note that a few other routes pay for their operating costs, but fall short when capital costs are included. Busgraph3.jpg To wrap this glimpse of this study up, 

I want to make clear that I am not saying we should rob Peter to pay Paul. We need more, and upgraded, rail service connecting our cities. However, we also need real competition if consumers are to benefit (this is the whole point of a little coalition we formed with the American Bus Association, among others, called Mobility Choice). 

Consumers deserve multiple options for traveling between cities. That means that we need more, and upgraded bus service as well. I used to travel regularly on C & J buses in the northeast and can testify that it can be cost-effective and comfortable already, so there's a solid foundation for expansion and improvement. But all too often buses get a bad rap, and not enough attention in national, state and metropolitan policy. That needs to change, given the data presented in this report, and in the wake of the BRT revolution underway. 

Let’s get to work on delivering more rubber-tired transit service linking cities, by giving buses a seat at the table when making transportation investment plans and programs.

Wickman Opened a Hupmobile Dealership

In 1914, a laid-off miner named Carl Wickman opened a Hupmobile dealership in Hibbing, Minn.

When he couldn't make a sale in the Iron Range village, he turned the seven-seat Hup into a bus, ferrying his former workmates between the mines and their homes.
From this humble start, Wickman created Greyhound Corp., the iconic bus firm that opened up America's highways to the masses.

Wickman moved from Sweden to Arizona to Minnesota, where his bus firm became king of the road. 

A Swedish immigrant with an eye for profit, Wickman (1887-1954) battled terrible roads, blizzards and mechanical breakdowns in the early years. During the Great Depression he nearly went bankrupt.
But over the long haul, Wickman steered his company toward fame and profit, parlaying a two-mile route into one of the leading bus transport services in the country.
"He was a jovial man,'' Carlton Jackson, author of "Hounds of the Road: A History of the Greyhound Bus Company," told IBD. "But he was determined. Minnesota was a rough place to start anything that had to do with transportation. He had to overcome a lot of obstacles."



Westward

Wickman was born in a village near Mora, Sweden. At the urging of a friend, he left the Scandinavian country in 1905 to travel to Arizona. Just a teen, he used all his money for a train ticket from New York to Tucson, only to find that his friend had left town.

Wickman's Keys

• The Swedish immigrant started a bus firm in Hibbing, Minn., in 1914 and made it Greyhound Corp., the transportation giant.
• Overcame: Freezing weather, terrible roads, the Great Depression.
• Lesson: Drive and hard work never go out of style.
• "He had the guts to take chances," said Gene Nicolelli, director of the Greyhound Bus Museum in Hibbing.
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•  

Although he was broke, couldn't speak English and didn't know a soul, he managed to get a job at a sawmill.
"However, the Arizona sun was a little different from the Swedish sun," Jackson said. "Meanwhile, he heard from a few of his friends who had gone directly to Minnesota that the climate up there was more like Sweden."

After saving enough money for the train fare, Wickman headed north to Hibbing, a rugged mining town with a pioneer flavor.
After working in the mines for years as a diamond-drill operator, he was laid off in 1913.

He was 26 and refused to sit still. He bought the Hupmobile dealership — and when he couldn't sell the seven-seat car, the precursor to the SUV, he began shuttling miners to work and back.
The bus was an immediate hit, with miners squeezing in any way they could. They sat on each other, stood on the running boards and clung to the back bumpers.

Wickman charged 15 cents for a one-way trip and a quarter — worth $6 now — for the round trip. With gasoline selling for 4 cents a gallon, he made money.

That was the upside.


The downside? The conditions.

His early drivers battled unpaved roads and Minnesota's freeze to deliver their passengers on time. Flapping curtains did little to keep out the snow. Blizzards made driving perilous, and a flat tire could result in miserable delay. "In one instance the snow was so deep that four men got out and walked," Jackson said. "They said it was quicker.

Greyhound rolled in the1920s, becoming the transportation of choice for vacationers, salesmen, even jazz bands.  

"It was something like the Wild West. In the beginning it was called the Snoose Line. Snoose in Swedish means snuff. The person who wanted a ride would take out his snuffbox and show it to the driver as he approached, and the driver would know the man on the street wanted a ride. Of course it was a little precarious to stay in the line of fire 'cause there were a lot of people spitting, and if you weren't careful you'd get a face full of snuff."


After that first winter, Wickman had enough of the drudgery. So he sold his interest in the company.
But when the firm's men asked him back, offering to reduce his driving duties, he jumped back in.
In 1915, their first full year, Wickman and his remaining partner, Andy Anderson, started 15-mile runs to Nashwauk, Minn., creating the country's first regular intercity bus route.
Their operation was on a roll. Demand was so high, they added cars. When those vehicles weren't enough, Wickman and Anderson stretched each car — cutting the frame in half, welding new pieces to the body, adding seats to accommodate 12 miners.


Growing
Wickman bought out competitors — and in 1916 formed Mesaba Transportation Co.
Two years later the company had 18 cars and an annual income of $40,000, or $600,000 today.
Wickman now lengthened his aim: to carry passengers anywhere in the country on one ticket.
At the end of World War I in November 1918 he sold his share of the business for $60,000 (worth $900,000 today), moved to Duluth, Minn., and started gobbling up his one-car competitors.
He made a crucial move in 1925, buying a small line operating out of Superior, Wis., that was owned by Orville Caesar.
Within a year the duo formed Motor Transit Corp., the holding company that became Greyhound.


At about that time, according to company legend, a driver was passing through a northern Wisconsin town when he saw the reflection of his bus in a store window.
"He said the bus looked like a greyhound," Jackson said.
The name caught on, and Wickman adapted the slogan "Ride the Greyhounds."


The company formally changed its name to Greyhound Corp. in 1930.


Shifting Gears
Wickman was coasting. He'd married Olga Rodin, a Swedish American, and they had two children.
But trouble was coming. After the stock market crash of 1929, Greyhound nearly went under. By 1931, his firm was over $1 million in debt.


Wickman wasted little time steering his company straight.
First, he gained exclusive rights to provide transportation at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair.

Second, his firm was featured in the 1934 movie "It Happened One Night," starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. The comedy about a spoiled heiress running away from her family who shares a Greyhound seat with a newspaperman won five Academy Awards.
In a savvy PR move, Wickman's team parked Greyhound buses in front of theaters.


Soon thousands of people all over the country were hopping on Greyhounds in search of similar adventures, Jackson says.
"People got vicarious experiences by seeing the movie," he said. "Greyhound was one of the few transportation companies in the mid-'30s that didn't go under."


By 1934, Greyhound had pulled a U-turn, with profit reaching $3.2 million (worth $54 million now), almost double the previous year.
In 1935, the net intake was $4.7 million (or $79 million now), and for the first time in history more people rode buses than trains.
In 1946 Wickman tapped on the brake, retiring as president to become chairman of the board. During a visit to Sweden, he was knighted by King Gustav V "for serving the unserved." Said Jackson: "That was Greyhound's motto at the time. Wickman went home as sort of a conquering hero."


By the time Wickman died at age 66, the transportation world that he helped create was changing. Cars were cutting into bus travel, cheap air travel was on the rise, and soon Greyhound had to diversify into nonbus activity with food and insurance companies.
A Dallas-based investment group led by Fred Currey bought the struggling bus company in 1987 and renamed it Greyhound Lines.
Four years later the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Today Greyhound is owned by FirstGroup (FGROY), a leading transport operator in the United Kingdom and North America.