Operators tackle evacuations

The next time a major storm like a hurricane -- strikes the Gulf or Atlantic coasts of the U.S., motorcoach operators and drivers who take part in evacuation efforts should find striking improvements in the way they are treated, compared to the past.

Thats the word from a group of operators that for the past year has been building relationships with many of the government agencies and private contractors they locked horns with over rescue operations late in 2008.

"I feel a lot more comfortable sending drivers down there now," said Jim Harris of Cardinal Coach in Warsaw, N.C., who early last year called for the Southeastern Regional Motorcoach Operators to create a committee to resolve pay and treatment issues that developed during two hurricane evacuations in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi in September 2008.

He said the special evacuation committee that ultimately was formed has made great strides in working on the issues, and carriers that respond to the next hurricanes or other major storms can expect to be treated much better.

"Its been like a breath of fresh air," he said.

Harris campaigned for the creation of the committee in response to drivers who complained they were treated like second-class citizens while doing emergency evacuation work during Hurricanes Ike and Gustaf, and operators said the state of Texas did not pay them for several months. (See May 15, 2009, Bus & Motorcoach News.)

Jimmy Kelton of Kelton Tours in Gadsden, Ala., who chairs the committee, said the group opened communications with the federal and state agencies that direct rescue operations and the private contractors they hire to help them.

"We still have some work to do but weve really come a long ways," Kelton said.

The committee worked with 13 southeastern states: Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Some states are more active than others, operators said.

Among the major accomplishments, Kelton noted, was the establishment of four subcommittees that addressed specific issues driver treatment, contracts, communications, and representation.

The driver treatment and contracts committees, Kelton said, negotiated critical concessions from the state of Texas, which was the target of most complaints from drivers and operators two years ago.

Among them was an agreement by the state that it would provide drivers with four meals a day, lodging, shower facilities and other personal comforts.

Many drivers had complained that while working in the state they were turned away from state-run dining tents, forced to sleep in their buses, and were not allowed to leave staging areas to shop for food and personal hygiene items.

The state also agreed it will accept federal Department of Transportation inspection stickers on coaches rather than requiring each bus to pass a state inspection before being allowed to go out on an assignment. Several out-of-state buses were not allowed to take part in movements because they failed inspections.

Additionally, Texas agreed to a payment procedure in which a bank will pay the operators 50 to 70 percent of their bill immediately after the proper paper work is approved by the state, and the bank then will collect the money from the state later.

Texas had blamed some of the long delays in payments on operators who had not filled out their paper work properly and it had to be sent back several times.

Kelton said that at the suggestion of Ken Presley, vice president of the United Motorcoach Association, the evacuation committee will put together a team that will review operators paper work before it is sent in for payment, a step that could help operators get most of their money within a week or two rather than months.

"We would like to see Texas become a state that other states model themselves after," said Kelton. "They have been working diligently trying to make it better each year."

The other subcommittees developed ways for operators and others to keep in touch with each other, and procedures that will assure the operators they will be represented when the federal and state governments and private contractors discuss issues that might involve them.

The communications efforts include regular conference calls between the committee members as well as the government agencies. Kelton said they will be stepped up to weekly calls when the new storm season begins June 1.

The evacuation committee also created a website www.seevac.org so operators can be made aware of new developments and other activities.

The site lists contact information for federal and state agencies involved in rescue work, offers information on current events, provides operators with daily weather reports, includes the names of committee members and has links to related websites.

Ray Land of Fabulous Coach Lines and Tours in Bradford, Fla., and a vice chairman of the committee, said the work put in by the members and others can be expected to show good results if there is a hurricane or other major storm this year.

"Hopefully, this open communications will help the situation so we are all treated better," he said.