Tought Leader
American Bus Association School Bus Council Assists Members with Regulations
WRITTEN BY PETER PANTUSO T
he American Bus Association (ABA) is the proud voice of the motorcoach industry, representing approximately 800 motorcoach companies. ABA’s School Bus Council was born out of our mission to continually strive to
recognize the unique needs of our operator members in this ev- er-growing and diverse industry. Roughly 100 of our members op- erate nearly 15,000 school buses in addition to their motorcoach fleets. Moreover, many of our members do not belong to any other national school transportation organization. ABA has a top-notch government affairs team offering its mem-
bers legislative and regulatory services. Tis allows our members to stay on the forefront of any change or advancement that could affect their business. In addition, we have formed a number of councils that focus on specific needs of our membership, allowing for more concentrated efforts in certain areas of the industry. All of these services are provided to ABA members at no addi-
tional cost. In addition to the School Bus Council, our councils include: the Asian Motorcoach Council, Hispanic Motorcoach Council, Entertainer Motorcoach Council, Women in Buses Council, Bus Industry Safety Council and Bus Maintenance & Repair Council. While our members are competitors in the mar- ketplace, they understand the importance of working together and learning from each other, for both the good of the industry and their individual companies. Tis past May, the School Bus Council held a conference call to discuss the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) recent- ly-released Investigative Report on the 2016 school bus accidents in Baltimore and Chattanooga, Tennessee. While ABA did not receive recommendations from the NTSB, we believe it is essential to keep our members on the cutting edge of news and information that is important to their operations.
Te purpose of the call was to walk our members through the accidents, as well as the agency’s findings and recommendations, so our members are aware of the safety concerns raised in both accidents. We also wanted to ensure that the lessons learned from both investigations are incorporated into operations as soon as possible. In our detailed discussion, we were able to also examine
44 School Transportation News • JULY 2018
the electronic stability control and collision avoidance technologi- cal recommendations that were made by the agency. We were also very pleased to be joined by staff from the NTSB, who were very gracious in offering clarifying information and answering any of our member’s questions. Later during our May conference call, the School Bus Council
offered the opportunity for school bus operators to partner with ABA in applying for the $40 million Diesel Emission Reduction Act grant program funds for, among other items, school bus retrofit and replacement projects. We also encouraged our members to become active in their state’s initiatives with respect to the funding opportu- nities that are available to them through the Volkswagen Settlement. Te School Bus Council was scheduled to convene next at
ABA’s Bus Industry Safety Council meeting outside of Baltimore on June 26-27. In addition, the School Bus Council will later meet at ABA’s Annual Meeting & Marketplace 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky, on January 26-29, 2019. More information, includ- ing schedule and registration materials for both meetings, can be found on ABA’s website at
www.buses.org. Members and prospec- tive members are welcome to attend. We continue to invite school bus operators who are already ABA members or those who are interested in joining ABA, to participate in the Council. Council membership is open to all ABA members. If a company that only operates school buses would like to participate, they would do so at the lowest ABA operator annual rate of $440. For information on how to become active in ABA’s School Bus Council, please contact ABA’s Brad Tucker at
btucker@buses.org.
Peter Pantuso is president and CEO of the American Bus Association, the oldest and largest trade organization of the intercity bus industry, with more than 1,000 motorcoach and tour company members in the U.S. and Canada. Its members operate charter, tour, regular route, airport express, special operations and contract services. Another 2,800 members are travel and tourism organizations, and suppliers of bus products and services that work in partnership with the North American motorcoach industry. For more information, visit
www.buses.org.
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