WASHINGTON -- The National Transportation Safety Board investigation of a fatal Texas bus crash is zeroing in on foreign-made coaches that are operating in the U.S. even though they don't meet federal safety standards.

At a hearing here last month, witnesses testified that shortcomings in federal and state regulations and enforcement are allowing unscrupulous operators to use illegal buses to carry passengers on U.S. roads.

Debbie Hersman, an NTSB member, said the regulations are a patchwork of rules enforced by different agencies.

Hersman suggested that companies are purchasing buses that don't comply with U.S. standards because theyre cheaper. The price for a new bus that meets U.S. safety rules is about $425,000, compared to about $211,000 for the bus involved in the Texas crash, she said.

"We have no idea how many noncompliant buses are in the country," said Hersman, who presided over the hearing.

Forty-seven passengers were returning to Houston from Monterrey, Mexico, on Jan. 2 on board a 2005 Mexican-made Volvo coach. The driver veered off the road near Victoria, Texas, and overcorrected, causing the bus to flip on its side and strike a guardrail.

A male passenger was killed and his wife and daughter were injured along with dozens of others.

Going around the rules

Hersman described the circuitous route the coach owner took to exploit gaps in California vehicle registration laws and ultimately get Texas license plates. The bus could not be registered in Texas because it did not meet U.S. safety standards.

With the help of Green River Buses of Dallas, the bus was registered in California using a Los Angeles address. Once registered in California it could be re-registered and operated in Texas.

Hersman said the owner "went to some pains" to register the bus in two states in an effort to "take advantage of loopholes in the registration process."

Capricorn Bus Lines of Houston owned the bus and leased it to International Charter Services Inc., which leased it back to Capricorn. Capricorn then supplied drivers, maintenance and insurance. Capricorn did not have authority from the U.S. Transportation Department to operate, and instead used Internationals USDOT number, said NTSB investigator Pete Kotowski.

The bus was cited in Oct. 2006 near Victoria, Texas, for not displaying Texas plates. It was registered in California in April 2007 under the International Registration Plan, or IRP, which allows motorcoaches registered in one state to operate in another under IRP member jurisdiction.

The bus was re-registered eight months later in Texas to operate as an intrastate carrier.

"The reason perhaps they went through all these hoops was they could not get titled in Texas and in order to get registered in Texas they had to get titled," said Hersman. Bobby Johnson, a Texas Department of Transporation official, agreed, saying getting the title so it could operate in Texas was the objective.

No night checks

The bus made regular runs from Monterrey to Houston. Enlarged photos around the hearing room showed the daily trip schedule stenciled on the rear of the bus. It lacked, however, a required label showing it met federal safety standards.

The bus arrived at the Laredo port of entry around 10:30 p.m. Jan. 2. Passengers had to get off and go through customs, and border officers checked the bus for contraband.

But because no Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration or Texas Department of Public Safety inspectors were on duty no safety inspection was conducted, Kotowski said. Vehicle safety inspectors are in place 16 hours daily at the port. The bus left about midnight for its 193-mile trip to Houston. It crashed at 4:35 a.m.

Texas officials concluded in their report the driver fell asleep before the crash.

UMA joins probe

The United Motorcoach Association assisted the NTSB in its investigation. UMA was asked by the safety agency to be a "party" to its two-day hearing.

UMA President and CEO Victor Parra, and Ken Presley, the association's vice president of industry relations, represented UMA and the motorcoach industry at the hearing and participated in the questioning of witnesses called by the NTSB.

Parties to a hearing are picked by the NTSB because theyre expected to have special knowledge that will contribute to the development of pertinent evidence.

"The hearing revealed holes in the way buses are inspected and registered," said Presley. "The NTSB has every reason to be concerned because they have uncovered dozens of buses registered and operating in violation of federal safety standards."

The hearing also revealed concerns about safety inspection frequency at the border.

"We learned that in 2007 there were over 265,000 bus crossings at the U.S.-Mexican border and just over 13,000 safety inspections. We have had occasional reports of Mexican carriers crossing the border and taking business away from U.S.-based carriers," noted Presley.

"We do not intend to stand by and watch unsafe competition hurt our members or harm the public."