Dangers of Charter Buses Highlighted

B R A N S O N, Mo., Aug. 12, 2000 -- Red, green and blue street signs guide nearly 6,000 motor coach buses a year across the roller-coaster roads that wind through this hilly resort town.

But passengers packed into the boat-sized vehicles may not realize how risky some of the buses are.

Nearly 15 percent of the motor coaches that bring millions of tourists to Branson and other Missouri destinations every year may be too dangerous to be on the highways, a computer analysis of records by The Associated Press has found.

These buses are caught in surprise roadside inspections for everything from faulty brakes and balding tires to cracked frames — problems that put not only their passengers at risk, but also other vehicles they share the road with.

Nationwide, there were 29,771 inspections done on interstate buses in 1999. Of those, 3,259 buses — or 11 percent — were taken out of service, Department of Transportation records show.

Missouri inspectors examined 379 interstate buses in surprise inspections in 1999. They pulled 53 of those off the road for serious safety violations — a failure rate of 14 percent.

Yet, bus companies rarely pay fines or face punishment, other than the cost of making repairs, for putting unsafe buses on the roads. And thousands more that zip across state lines escape roadside inspections.

A Safety Concern for All

There are no state records that track exactly how many buses travel through Missouri each year, but tourism officials estimate it’s more than 12,000.

Branson, which does $150 million annually in motor coach business, is the favorite target for Missouri inspectors, along with sports stadiums and amusement parks in Kansas City and St. Louis.

The music resort drew an estimated 6,000 tour buses to the Ozarks last year. State regulators inspected just 161 of them, of which 14 percent were deemed unsafe and placed out of service, state Highway Patrol records show.

Missouri Division of Motor Carrier and Railroad Safety Administrator Ben Goodin called the figures scary. “This is a safety concern for the passengers of these buses and the other drivers on the roads,” Goodin said.

Inspectors say they have been stepping up safety programs and focusing more on motor coaches since Missouri became a leading tourist destination, but available figures show little improvement.

During surprise inspections in Branson in early June, officials examined 45 buses and took eight of them — or 17.8 percent — out of service.

The buses were shut down for violations ranging from bad brakes and balding tires to defective steering components. One bus was cited for having a cracked frame. Others were taken out of service for defective or ruptured suspension systems — the component that holds a bus frame off its axle.

“You must have a good suspension system, brakes and tread on your tires if you are going to take a bus through Branson,” state inspector Mark Biesemeyer said. “The hills, curves and high-traffic concentration are bad enough without the added problem of driving a defective bus.”

Miffed Passengers

Buses ordered off the road can be an inconvenience to the 50 or so passengers waiting for their ride to the next show or motel. But dealing with miffed customers is often the worst punishment a motor carrier will face for operating a defective bus.

Many companies escape fines and follow-up inspections because the 22 state inspectors aren’t enough to handle the heavy work load, Goodin said.

When an inspector finds a serious problem during a surprise inspection, he orders the bus “out of service,” which means the vehicle cannot be moved until it is repaired.

The bus companies are not fined at that point, but a record of the failed inspection is sent to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and examined to determine which ones should receive follow-up compliance reviews — and ultimately which should be referred for prosecution and fines.

But FMCSA, which evaluates some 2.2 million truck and bus records each year, is often slow to act. And many carriers slip through the cracks without a follow-up review.

Nationwide, there were just 481 compliance reviews done on passenger carriers in 1999.

In Missouri, there were just 16 compliance reviews on motor coach companies in 1999. Of those, two cases were referred for prosecution, according to the general counsel’s office of the MCRS.

In both cases, the companies were charged with carrying passengers without proper license. Both settled out of court — one of them, Branson Shuttle Service Inc., was cited 29 times for the offense and paid an $8,000 fine.

Musn’t Keep Andy’s Fans Waiting

Mark Biesemeyer has felt his share of icy glares while at work. He has been snickered at, called nasty names and even fended off volatile situations.

But Biesemeyer does not apologize for his job as a tour bus inspector.

“This is for the passengers’ own good,” he says.

Biesemeyer is one of 22 inspectors at the Missouri Division of Motor Carrier and Railroad Safety. Among other things, the agency is responsible for conducting surprise inspections of charter buses, terminal inspections and follow-up compliance reviews.

Inspectors do what they can to keep the surprise examinations hassle-free for passengers. But Biesemeyer says he still hears about it when he makes 40 or 50 passengers late for their next Branson show or scheduled event.

“I have seen some volatile — bordering on the political — situations from these passengers who do not want to be delayed,” Biesemeyer says. “One time, a woman said she was going to inform her senator that the state had made her late for the Andy Williams show.”

Inspector Gary Riddle says passengers might change their tune if they could see under some of the buses they’re traveling in.

“We took one bus out of service last week in Branson because it was riding on tires that were completely bald,” Riddle said earlier this year. “I’ve seen others with missing lug nuts, missing brake lights or unsecured passenger seats.”

A surprise motor coach inspection takes about 25 minutes when three inspectors are working. It usually takes place while passengers are at their destination.

If the bus passes the federally mandated standards, it gets a sticker exempting it from inspections for 90 days. If the violations are bad enough, the bus may be placed “out of service,” which means it cannot be moved until the problem is fixed.

Passengers should do their homework before they charter a bus for a trip, Biesemeyer says. That includes verifying with the company when their buses were last inspected and what procedures are in place in case of roadside emergencies requiring repair or replacement of their motor coaches.

Biesemeyer warns that passengers can usually expect to get what they pay for.

“People should understand this: the cheaper the price for the charter, the more likely it’s going to be a dangerous piece of junk,” he says.

Accidents Happen

Industry leaders maintain that motor coach travel is one of the safest ways to travel. The National Safety Council reported that U.S. interstate motor coach travel had an average of 4.3 passenger fatalities per year between 1987 and 1996.

In comparison, an average of 44,080 persons were killed per year in motor vehicle crashes of all types during that period.

Passengers say tour buses offer a reasonable alternative to driving themselves to their favorite destinations.

“When I go on vacation I want to have fun, and that means not battling the traffic and worrying about my car breaking down,” said 78-year-old Pete Fiddler of Belleville, Ill., after climbing off a bus at the Grand Palace theater. “My wife and I always travel here by bus. We have never had a problem, and the driver has always been a great host.”

Still, motor coach accidents do happen and they often put many more lives at risk than other types of vehicle crashes.

Two of the deadliest bus crashes in the last decade involved tour buses en route to casinos. Both were attributed to driver error.

A casino-bound bus in New Jersey crashed on the Garden State Parkway in December 1998, killing eight passengers. And on Mother’s Day in 1999, 22 people aboard a New Orleans bus were killed after the vehicle crashed on an embankment.

An investigation into the New Orleans crash showed that driver Frank Bedell’s health problems and use of marijuana hours before the crash played a major role in the accident. Although Bedell had tested positive for drugs while working at other bus companies, he never mentioned that to his new employers. Since it was not in the records, his new employers never found out about his drug use.

National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Jim Hall says that’s a problem for employers doing background checks on their drivers. The national database of motor carriers needs to be updated to include information about drivers’ health, positive drug tests and history of employment, Hall said.

The driver of the New Jersey bus was cited for reckless driving, possession of a radar detector and possession of a false log book.

Nonfatal accidents attract far less attention, but they are still frequent in heavily traveled states like Missouri. The state saw 462 nonfatal motor coach crashes in 1998 — ranking it fifth in the nation for bus crashes, according to FMCSA.

Failing Tests

Good Life Transportation of Omaha, Neb., is one of Missouri’s better customers, with 300 to 500 tours a year.

In the last 30 months, federal records show, Good Life underwent 103 surprise inspections at different locations in the country. Its buses flunked 23 times, for a failure rate of more than one in five.

John Wilhelm, a terminal manager for Good Life, said regulations are too stringent. For instance, he said, when one of his 20 buses is ordered out of service for a brake violation, it may be that just one brake out of the six is slightly off.

“Maybe a driver had a couple hard stops and worked one of the brakes out of adjustment, but I can’t think of a case where it didn’t just take a minute or two to adjust it and get it back on the road,” he said.

But Good Life buses were cited for more than brake problems in the last three years, records show. Among them:

During a Sept. 5, 1997 inspection, a Good Life bus was cited for a cracked or broken frame, a defective axle and a maintenance violation.

On April 8, 1998: a company bus was cited for a loose steering column, a second bus had inadequate brake lining for safe stopping and a third had a defective brake drum.

Aug. 4, 1999: one bus was cited for a cracked or broken wheel rim and low tire tread. Another was cited for a defective air suspension system.

Feb. 7, 2000: one bus was cited for not having an emergency kit on board.

Wilhelm said he conducts massive inspections every 5,000 miles and maintains the buses are all in good condition.

Cavallo Bus Lines of Gillespie, Ill., underwent 39 inspections in the last 30 months and flunked six of them. Two failed inspections happened in Missouri for missing steering components, defective axle parts and a defective brake warning device.

The company’s president, Larry Cavallo, said his fleet of 40 motor coaches are inspected every 1,200 miles and are safe.

However, Cavallo said, he has no problem with an inspector occasionally putting one of his buses out of service.

“It’s part of the business,” he said.

Chuck Hill, president of Heartland Motor Coach Inc. of St. Joseph, said he was thankful when state inspectors in Kansas City discovered a cracked frame on one of his buses.

“It gave us the chance to fix it before it could become a real problem,” he said. “We think inspectors are a pain in the neck when they stop our buses, but I’m 100 percent for what they are doing. I don’t want unsafe buses on the roads any more than the next person.”