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I am a baby boomer and as such grew up reading Fairy Tales. I did not have the electronic gadgets that children do today. One of my favorites was The Emperor Has No Clothes, and I don’t think I fully understood the “real” meaning of the Fairy Tale until my adult life. Fairy Tales usually have a “hidden” life lesson. If you have not read or are not familiar with this tale, you should read it. The Emperor’s tailor made him very special attire to wear in the parade; however convinced that he was wearing the finest clothing of the day and the envy of all, he actually did not have anything on! Only one child screamed out, “The Emperor has no clothes!”
We often find ourselves accepting what is given to us without screaming that it is not a good thing. We simply accept it. Some things we cannot scream about, or if we scream, it will absolutely have no effect. Our Congressmen and our state legislators do it to us all the time. Sometimes we can affect change by electing others to take the place of those who forgot who voted for them; and, sometimes we can’t. There’s a difference in legislative mandates and what others push upon us without real authority. It’s time we scream that TSX has no clothes!
I do not know an operator who does not believe in and strive for safety. Sure, there are unfit, rogue operators who somehow stay under the radar of FMCSA enforcement. I’m not talking about those operators now. I’m talking about operators who protect their investment in their companies by complying with safety rules and regulations. Many go the “extra mile” to ensure insofar as possible that they have done everything they can to provide their customers a safe journey. Many participate in seminars, workshops, online education, etc. to stay up to date. Even the operator who goes beyond what is required can experience an accident. That does not make that operator an “unsafe” operator.
Safety is good. We can all agree to that. What frustrates me is Transportation Safety Exchange (TSX) is being pushed upon the industry and will in reality create no safer environment than already exists. How can you trust a program that is in reality designed to put operators who cannot pay the fees to participate in the program at risk of losing business, operators who have safe operations. How can you trust a program that is willing to “discount” to certain operators and not others. How can you trust a program that will “guarantee” ten times the fee paid in business? There are no guarantees in life, except death and taxes! But, yet, there will be operators who will buy that line and be “sucked” into the program only to realize that they have been mislead when the fee is increased at renewal time. How can you trust a program that has misrepresented the truth? How can you trust a program that says, “We plan to put 20% of the operators out of service.” Which operators? Will it be the rogue operators? I suspect not.
This program is just a way of moving the motorcoach industry in the direction that trucking has already gone—broker driven. It has been proven that brokers have not been good for the motorcoach industry and I would guess it has negatively affected the trucking industry. Not only is the program moving the industry in that direction, it is moving it into one program and one broker who I suspect is counting on controlling the industry through TSX.
I have listened to the presentation of TSX no less than three times and every time I have been totally amazed that the program is promoted to an industry already struggling as tours have been declining and school budgets have been cut to eliminate or greatly decrease student travel, to operators who are searching for diversity to bring back lost tour income, to operators dealing with the recessed economy and higher prices for fuel, equipment, and products and services that support their operation. Why would an operator agree to “sign up” for a program that cannot yet say what it will do to enhance the safety inspection to justify paying thousands of dollars for participation? In reality, the program, I suspect, will do nothing of substance beyond what is held as the standard for Department of Defense certification.
It is time that someone screamed that TSX has no clothes! It is being clothed only with a threat of loss of business if operators do not participate. If operators will see the program for what it is, they will not participate. If operators do not participate, the program will not survive. TSX is a substitute for PTSP, Pupil Transportation Safety Program, a program that the investors of TSX admit cannot sustain itself and, in fact, has lost revenue. Investors in TSX would have you believe that operators are signing up to the point that they are backlogged in inspections. I have yet to see a list of TSX certified operators.
I have traveled over the southeast and the south central states this year managing annual meetings for seven associations from Chesapeake, Virginia to Hollywood, Florida, to Fort Worth Texas and I have heard of only a few operators who have signed up for the program. Those few, in my opinion, were coerced by the threat of losing NCAA transportation. I have more operators say, “I will not participate.” Those operators have an understanding of what TSX is really all about.
Operators were not involved in creating TSX. If they had been, we may be looking at a viable program, a program that operators could accept. With no industry participation, TSX is being pushed upon operators. Oh, operators will be told that they don’t have to participate; but, if they don’t they risk loss of business. But, let me tell you that if operators do not sign up, there will be no program.
I have decided it is time that someone must rewrite this fairy tale! TSX has been invited to meet with a group of operators to discuss how a new inspections program can work at a reasonable cost, if a new inspections program is really needed. Operators do not object to safety inspections. On the contrary, reputable operators welcome inspections. Is another inspections program needed? If the current rules and regulations were truly enforced by DOT, would another program make the industry safer? I maintain that if FMCSA enforcement personnel inspected as they should, including finding the rogue operators, another inspections program would not be needed. As long as the inspectors only go to the easily found, easily inspected companies, the rogues are going to continue and the rogues are responsible for the increased safety focus by Congress. The rogues violate the safety rules and regulations and when they cause an accident, the industry gets another black eye. Then Congress cranks up the safety focus another notch.
Every operator must do what they deem good for their operation. I encourage every operator to make decisions based on facts, not a fairy tale! Linda Morris
Southeastern Regional Motorcoach Operators Coalition
800-376-1660 |
