NEW YORK CITY A concerted effort to modify proposed street parking regulations for tour and intercity buses here has paid off for the Bus Association of New York and, by extension, the entire industry.

BANY and the city Department of Transportation reached an agreement that when the new rules are put in place later this year they will include several critical recommendations from the state trade association.

The agreement was reached during a last-minute meeting between representatives from BANY and officials from the city DOT that held up passage of state legislation that gives the city broad new powers to regulate motorcoach parking.

The city plans to use the authority to require intercity and tour operators to obtain special curbside parking permits for their buses and to load and unload passengers only at locations designated by the city.

The permits will be good for three years and cost $275 annually for each bus that travels to the city.

Although BANY did not oppose the general idea of the plan, it did object to some elements and organized a letter-writing campaign in an effort to stall passage of the legislation until the association could present its case to the city.

State lawmakers not only obliged the association but agreed to the negotiated settlement before voting to approve the legislation.

"Once we lifted our opposition, the legislation moved forward and was approved," said BANY legal counsel Jerry Kremer, who led the talks with the city.

Under terms of the agreement, charter and jitney bus operations will not be subject to the regulation; most intercity carriers will be allowed to continue to pickup and drop-off passengers at their existing curbside locations, and operators in some cases will be able to obtain "instant" parking permits when additional buses are needed for a trip at the last minute.

Kremer said the city rejected suggestions operators be allowed to purchase fleet parking permits, rather than permits for each of their buses, and that a definition of "local transit service" be developed so commuter buses would be exempt from the regulation.

The request for the transit service definition was an attempt by the association to protect jitney bus operations from the permit requirement, which some operators suggested could ruin their commuter businesses, which involves transporting thousands of workers to and from the city every day.

Although the city agreed to specifically exempt charters, it declined to do so for jitney operations.

Instead, it said it would officially recognize that the small buses and their commuter operations do not fit the definition of intercity or tour operations and they would not be affected by the new parking regulations.

"The jitney operations would have been devastated by the regulations," noted Ken Presley, vice president and chief operating officer of the United Motorcoach Association, which supported the BANY effort, including providing money to help finance BANYs lobbying campaign.

The exemption for charter buses was sought because of concerns the city might construe a chartered tour trip to be a regular tour and be subject to the regulations. The tour section of the regulations will include excursion and tour buses that provide nonscheduled stops at attractions such as museums, restaurants and stage performances.

Kremer said the recommendation for a rapid parking permit renewal process was in response to worries by operators that renewals could take such a long time that they could lose business if their new permits were not available before their old ones expired.

"They didnt want their renewal applications sitting around for long periods of time," he noted.

Also, he said operators expressed concerns that if they ever needed additional buses at the last minute, they might not be able to meet the need if they only had non-permitted buses available.

Under the agreement, they will be able to place a telephone call or send an email to the city for the quick issuance of additional permits.

BANY President Godfrey LeBron said he was pleased with the agreement, but cautioned that success will come only when the regulations are properly implemented.

"Were certainly better off than we were before, but we still may have some work to do," he suggested, adding that the association is eager to see that the measures that were negotiated actually are part of the regulations when they become effective.

The legislation was put together at the urging of the New York City Council, which turned to state lawmakers after city lawyers ruled the council did not have authority to regulate intercity buses.

The city has been struggling for years with bus traffic and parking problems and has expressed concern about the increasing number of intercity buses many of them so-called Chinatown carriers that provide curbside pickup and drop-off services.

The new rules could be in place as early as September.

Operators that violate them could be fined up to $1,000 for a first offense and $2,500 for repeat offenses.