Charter buses remain exempt

ARLINGTON, Va. Aggressive lobbying by the motorcoach industry and its allies in the group tour business has halted an effort by state and provincial members of the International Registration Plan to eliminate the plan exemption granted for charter buses and force all charter operators to buy apportioned license plates.

A last-minute lobbying effort lead by the United Motorcoach Association, which was aided mightily by Motor Coach Canada and the NTA (formerly the National Tour Association), worked to convince IRP members to vote against lifting the exemption.

The result of the blitz was enough "no" votes to kill the proposal.

There are 59 states and provinces that are voting members of the IRP. Under the organizations rules, the ballot measure needed to be approved by three-quarters of the members to be adopted. (See June 15 Bus & Motorcoach News.)

Twenty-nine jurisdictions voted "yes" to abolish the exemption, 16 voted "no" to keep it, 12 did not vote, and 2 abstained. That meant the proposal fell measurably short of the 75 percent requirement.

The result came despite a pre-vote survey of IRP members that found that "nearly 75 percent of jurisdictions reported that interjurisdictional charter bus operations should be treated the same as any other motor vehicle engaged in interjursidictional commerce."

Translation: The lobbying effort changed minds.

Motor Coach Canada called the vote a "major victory" for the motorcoach industry in the U.S. and Canada. "This is great news for the charter bus industry," the association told its members.

"Based on the pre-ballot survey, this proposal was expected to pass easily but for the past month weve lobbied hard on this issue with our partners from the MCC and NTA," said UMA President and CEO Victor Parra.

The balloting process used by the IRP is called "short-track," meaning jurisdictions had only 30 days to cast their vote.

"IRP was hoping to get states searching for new sources of revenue to support the elimination of the exemption without thinking about the overall consequences of their decision," said Parra.

"We reacted quickly and sent communications to state/provincial directors of tourism, governors and directly to the voting IRP members.

"Both NTA and MCC helped greatly in this effort. Thankfully we were able to turn this around and the result was enough "no" votes to kill the proposal," said Parra.

Charter buses are one of only five categories of vehicles that are exempt from the IRP definition of "apportionable" vehicles. The others are recreational vehicles, vehicles displaying restricted plates, city pick-up and delivery vehicles, and government-owned vehicles.

All commercial trucks and line-run buses weighing more than 26,000 pounds and operating interstate are required to have apportioned registration.

However, 18 states and provinces have adopted individual rules that mandate charter operators must purchase apportioned tags. The IRP ballot measure would have meant the other 41 states and provinces would have begun requiring IRP registration.

Charter buses may be proportionally registered at the option of the operator in those states that do not have a mandate.

In their effort to sway the IRP vote, UMA, MCC and NTA told targets of their lobbying that the change would restrict travel and hurt tourism.

In their appeal, Parra and NTA President Simon said if the IRP ballot measure was approved it would "reduce travel to your state. . . . The proposal reduces the ability of groups traveling by charter bus to move between states, as well as move between states and Canadian provinces.

"Currently, under the IRP plan, charter buses are exempt from displaying apportioned license plates and are able to travel relatively freely between the two countries and among states and provinces. Thus, onboard tour guides can alter plans and easily travel among the states and provinces without any consequence."

The primary argument for eliminating the charter bus exemption held that because charter buses use the same roads and bridges as trucks, truck-tractors and non-chartered motor buses they shouldnt be exempt from IRP registration.

"Charter buses engaged are subject to (the same) regulatory requirements as trucks, truck-tractors and other motor buses, including USDOT, International Fuel Tax Agreement, and Unified Carrier Registration requirements," said the proponents.

The IRP is a registration reciprocity agreement among the 48 continental states, the District of Columbia and provinces of Canada, providing for payment of license fees on the basis of fleet distance operated in various jurisdictions.