WASHINGTON A plan that calls for drastically changing the way motorcoach tour groups get to the U.S. Capitol has been blasted by five bus industry-related associations.

The plan calls for tour buses to drop off their passengers at Washingtons Union Station where they would board transit buses and be shuttled to the new Capitol Visitor Center thats scheduled to open later this year.

The shuttle would, of course, charge a fee.

The associations, which call themselves the Travel & Tourism Advocacy Group, say the plan "would be a disaster for the District of Columbia, the people who visit here, and the organizations that carry those people to D.C."

The advocacy group is comprised of the American Bus Association, the Guide Service of Washington, the National Tour Association, the Student Youth Travel Association, and the United Motorcoach Association.

The associations outrage over the proposal was delivered at an April meeting of the House Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Building and Emergency Management by ABA President and CEO Peter Pantuso.

The shuttle concept, which has been simmering on Washingtons back burner for years, has moved to the forefront as the long-delayed Capitol Visitor Center has begun nearing completion.

The visitor center is a $550 complex that, as its name implies, will become the access point for the three million tourists who enter the U.S. Capitol annually.

The shuttle bus plan is being pushed in the name of security. The old chestnut has been raised that private tour coaches are somehow more of a security threat than CNG-laden public transit buses.

Pantuso told subcommittee members that the Travel & Tourism Advocacy Group had analyzed the proposal and found "several deficiencies that call into question its usefulness from a security as well as transportation standpoint." Among the deficiencies:

Union Station does not have the space to accommodate the hundreds of motorcoaches that come to Washington daily. Nor does it have the space to handle the dozens of D.C. Circulator buses that would be needed to shuttle the coach passengers to the visitor center.

"A modern motorcoach will seat approximately 55 passengers," Pantuso noted. "A D.C. transit bus holds several fewer passengers. So for each motorcoach unloaded at Union Station, one would need one circulator bus plus several additional seats. The potential for mass confusion at best is obvious."

Most motorcoach passengers coming to D.C. are part of a group, and many of those groups are composed of children. "The coalition's fear is that the proposal will make it more difficult for groups to stay together," said Pantuso.

The third and perhaps the most important issue is the assumption that D.C. Circulator buses are somehow more secure than private motorcoaches and therefore present less of a threat to the Capitol complex.

"This is simply not true and for several reasons," said Pantuso. "First, motorcoaches are chartered by groups of people. The people in the group are not strangers to each other. Their security comes from knowing who is on the bus. That is not the case when the bus is a city bus.

"Anyone can board the D.C. Circulator at Union Station and ride to the (capitol). That scenario begs the question: Which group has the better security?" Pantuso said.

Finally, many city transit buses are fueled by compressed natural gas, which is more of a threat to explode than a standard motorcoach which uses diesel fuel.

A much better plan, said Pantuso, is to screen tour buses so they can drop off their passengers at a point close to the Capitol Visitor Center.