TORONTO, Ont. Motor Coach Canada has issued a notice to U.S. operators, reminding them that enforcement of the new hours-of-the-service rules begins July 1 in Canada.

The revamped regulations went into effect Jan. 1, but there has been a "soft enforcement" policy for the past five months. That changes July 1 in all provinces except Alberta, which has yet to adopt the rules. (See May 15 Bus & Motorcoach News.)

Dave Carroll of Motor Coach Canada says there are six key factors related to the new rules that U.S. drivers need to keep in mind when bring a coach into Canada:

Drivers must be able to show in their log book that during the preceding 14 days, they had a 24-hour off duty period. Not necessarily a calendar day off, just a period of 24 consecutive hours off.

Drivers must carry log sheets for the preceding 14 days.

Drivers cannot drive after the 16th hour from the time a driver's work shift started -- despite the number of hours of on duty time. For example, a driver who begins work at 6 a.m. cannot drive the coach after 10 p.m., and cannot drive again until he or she has taken 8 consecutive hours off duty.

For every 24-hour (calendar) day, drivers must not exceed 14 hours on-duty and must have at least 10 hours off-duty.

For work cycles, U.S. drivers that are in compliance with the U.S. cycle of 70 hours in 8 days while in Canada don't need to worry about violating the Canadian cycles because Canada's new cycle limit (70 hours in 7 days) is actually more permissive than 70 in 8.

Drivers must indicate in their daily log each day they are in Canada, the cycle they have elected to use (Cycle One - 70 in 7, or Cycle Two - 120 in 14).

"For 99.9 percent of drivers, it will be Cycle One (70 in 7), so be sure drivers write in the 'remarks' area of the log: 'Cycle One,'" said Carroll, adding that "yes they are subject to getting tickets if they forget to mark this on every log sheet."