TAMPA, Fla. -- The United Motorcoach Association has announced that the popular Maintenance Interchange will be back for an encore at Motorcoach Expo 2006.

The unique seminar allows motorcoach owners, operators and maintenance personnel to openly discuss tough maintenance issues.

The 8th annual Maintenance Interchange will take place Thursday, Jan. 19, during the Solution Sessions phase of Expo.

The Maintenance Interchange retains its popularity among Expo participants because it is a great resource for solving tough motorcoach maintenance problems.

In the past, participants have found the Interchange to be helpful for both saving money and maintaining their equipment.

According to Dave Bolen of New World Tours in Bristow, Va., "the technical discussions and solutions that are presented are specific to the products we are maintaining on a daily basis. I have found them to be useful in reducing the lifecycle cost of our fleet."

In advance of the Interchange, participants submit pressing maintenance issues they would like addressed at the session. During the day-long event, each maintenance issue is presented and discussed by the operators and maintenance personnel in attendance. Others may have dealt with similar issues and offer their suggestions for solving the problem.

Operators have found the Maintenance Interchange to be extremely helpful because of its unique tone and the effectiveness of the problem-solving. To facilitate the discussion, the session is designed as an operator-to-operator exchange, excluding vendors, manufacturers, suppliers and sales personnel.

"The Maintenance Interchange is a great opportunity for shop personnel to speak frankly about service problems that plague us all," said Gladys Gillis, CEO of Starline Transportation. "I saw mechanics open up in this environment, no vendors allowed. They were sharing their own creative solutions to common problems!"

The Maintenance Interchange will be from 9 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19. The Maintenance Interchange is free for Motorcoach Expo registrants with a small fee for those not registered for Expo. If you are interested in registering for the Maintenance Interchange, email info@uma.org or call the United Motorcoach Association at (800) 424-8262. Look for registration forms in the coming months in UMA's newsletter, The Exchange, and the Motorcoach Expo e-mail newsletter.