OKLAHOMA CITY -- A failed attempt to build a new four-state motorcoach association in the Southwest has led to the creation of a new state trade organization in Oklahoma and a close relationship with that state's trucking industry.

The Oklahoma Motorcoach Association not only is up and running but it has already scored some success with its main mission of looking out for motorcoach carriers at the state legislature.

However, because the fledging organization has only eight dues-paying members, it had to look outside the coach industry to make it happen. It partnered with the Oklahoma Trucking Association, and is using its professional lobbyist to tend to its legislative business.

"I know the combination of trucks and buses hasn't always worked well in other states, but it seems to be working well here," says association president Robert O'Brien of Time Lines in Oklahoma City. "It was worth the chance because as small as we are there was no way we could afford a fulltime lobbyist."

The new association had about a dozen members when the group first got together, but three of the operators have since gone out of business, leaving it with eight of the 12 or so carriers based in the state.

O'Brien said the lobbying efforts this year won the industry legislation that exempts motorcoach companies from state sales taxes and sets the same minimum liability insurance standard for both intrastate and interstate carriers.

The new motorcoach association actually is the product of a failed effort to put together a regional association of operators from Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and New Mexico. Formed early last year, the four-state group hired an executive director and was in the midst of developing an agenda when it collapsed because too many members failed to pay their dues.

"We ran out of money and had to give it up," said O'Brien.

However, a few of the operators who wanted to give it one more shot agreed to try to put together smaller coalitions in their own areas that eventually could again link up as a single regional organization.

"It turns out we were the only ones able to do it," added O'Brien, who, along with Jeff Polzein of Red Carpet Charters, put up the initial funds to get the group off the ground.

Recognizing, though, that they would never be large or wealthy enough to hire their own lobbyist, the Oklahoma carriers turned to the trucking association and its executive director and lobbyist Dan Case for help. The truckers responded favorably and for an annual fee agreed to give motorcoach operators a seat on their board of directors and allowed them full use of their lobbyist.

"What we needed was a combination lobbyist and legislative watchdog," said O'Brien. "Now, any time the word bus' comes up or if he even thinks something might apply to us, we're notified."

Case said the marriage is a good one, too, mostly because the trucking and motorcoach industries have much in common, including tax and fuel issues. "They had some needs and they felt that the best way to meet those needs was to join with us," he said.

While the failed regional group gets credit for being the catalyst for the association's birth, it was a state sales tax issue that put everybody in Oklahoma on the same page from the get-go. The State Tax Commission decided to begin enforcing an old law that required motorcoach carriers to pay sales taxes on their business, and was considering making the requirement retroactive.

The motorcoach carriers argued that the bulk of their business was transporting school, college, church and nonprofit groups, all of which are exempt from paying state sales taxes. Their few other customers, they contended, would produce very little revenue for the state, probably not even enough to cover the cost of collecting the tax.

The tax commission eventually bought the reasoning and eventually agreed to add a motorcoach exemption to the main tax package it presented to the state legislature this year. Lawmakers, after some intense lobbying, passed the proposal in April on the last day of their legislative session.

In addition to the sales tax issue prodding the carriers to get together, the motorcoach operators still had a bitter taste in their mouths from a few years back when they had nobody at the state capital looking after their interests and lawmakers gave truckers a big break on the state excise taxes during a campaign to try to attract more truck terminals to the state.

Legislators ignored the motorcoach industry in the tax measure, leaving bus operators to continue paying a substantially higher tax on new equipment. Truckers now pay about $500 in excise tax when they register a new truck, while motorcoach operators pay $12,000 to $14,000 in registration fees and taxes for a new coach..

"Had someone not been asleep at the switch or been involved from the bus industry, it would have been very easy to include buses in that tax package," suggested O'Brien.

The association now is campaigning with the truckers against a Sept. 13 state ballot issue that would raise gasoline taxes by 5 cents a gallon to 21 cents and diesel fuel taxes 8 cents to 22 cents, and is studying other issues to tackle when lawmakers get together again next year. Among them are the high price of fuel, illegal motorcoach operators and insurance costs.

And on the back burner is the excise tax issue.

O'Brien said the truckers are concerned that if the coach operators were to push lawmakers to reduce the excise tax for the motorcoach industry, they might turn around and increase it for truckers. "Revenue negative issues are not very popular in our state right now," he said. "But the truckers agreed that when the time is ripe, they would support a proposal to have it changed to include buses in the deal."

He said he's looking to grow the organization to include every motorcoach operator in the state, noting that those who do not belong will not have their voices heard at the legislature. "We still have some work to do, some arms to twist to get people to sign up," he said. "But those of us who are committed to fund it no matter what are going to keep it going."