HAMMONTON, N.J. - The South Jersey Transportation Authority may be close to scrapping plans to begin scrutinizing the safety performance of motorcoach operators that send coaches to Atlantic City, including requiring operators to report all their traffic safety violations to the authority.
The mechanism for moving the authority into bus safety oversight is contained in extensive rules revisions currently being considered by the authority.
The draft rules, published last month, contain a provision that would require all companies sending motorcoaches to Atlantic City on a fairly regular basis to report every single traffic safety citation to the authority regardless of where the violation occurred.
Industry sources said the safety oversight proviso likely will come out of the final document that goes before the authority board later this year.
Directors of the Atlantic City Bus Operators Association reportedly met with key South Jersey Transportation Authority officials and others to urge restrain and repeated the request at public hearings late last month.
"I think that (the safety reporting and oversight provision) is probably coming out," said one well-placed source close to talks.
While the proposed changes also include a substantial increase in the cost of annual fleet and single-bus medallions, the daily permit fees for buses entering Atlantic City will remain unchanged at $2. The daily permit is the one most operators purchase.
The annual fee for a fleet medallion is being increased to $40,500 from $30,000, while the annual fee for a single-bus medallion is being raised from $550 to $675. There reportedly are only four holders of fleet medallions.

Stop the insanity
When operators along the eastern seaboard learned of the original safety oversight and reporting proposal they were outraged.
"Insanity. More insanity," was the reaction of one high-profile New York operator. "You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to stop taking reservations for Atlantic City."
"We don't need one more level of regulation," said a large Pennsylvania-based operator. "We're already regulated by the federal government, the New Jersey DOT and the New Jersey State Police. We don't need this."
Said a New Jersey operator: "You know what Atlantic City needs? A one-day boycott. That would straighten them out in a hurry."
Added a fourth operator: "This is crap. They have no business getting involved in that."
To a person, other operators contacted by Bus & Motorcoach News reacted with similar indignation. Many, like the New York operator, vowed to direct customers to other gaming destinations. "There's always Foxwoods," said the owner of one large New Jersey coach operation.
In the past three years, there has been a 30 percent drop in daily motorcoach traffic in and out of Atlantic City. The decline is attributed to a number of factors but New Jersey's reputation as a "motorcoach unfriendly" state is believed to be a primary reason.

An information vacuum
Until contacted by Bus & Motorcoach News, most operators were not aware of the extensive rules changes being planned by the authority, which was set up a dozen years ago to coordinate the region's transportation system, including addressing the highway network, aviation facilities and the transportation problems of Atlantic County.
The authority's move into motorcoach safety oversight certainly stretches the purpose for which it was set up, judging by information contained on its Web site - www.sjta.com.
Only one operator contacted by Bus & Motorcoach News was aware the authority was conducting public hearings Oct. 23-24 on the proposal. The authority did not publish a notice regarding the hearings on its Web site until Oct. 10, 14 days before the hearings. And, the Web notice barely hinted at the scope and significance of the proposed changes.
The only other known notice about the hearings was an announcement printed Oct. 6, in a state legal publication called the New Jersey Register.
One group that obtained a copy of the proposed rules in mid-October was stunned to find that the deadline for being included on the list of speakers for the Oct. 23-24 hearings was Sept. 15.

ACBOA acts
Among those who knew about the proposed changes were directors and members of the Atlantic City Bus Operators Association, a 22-year-old association that represents operators providing service to Atlantic City.
Thomas Dugan, president of the association and president of Safety Bus Service in Pennsauken, N.J., said the association, along with its attorney, planned to make statements at the hearings.
"We don't think there is any necessity for them to get into that (regulatory oversight)," said Dugan. "We don't like the idea of any regulatory additions."
Dugan was reluctant to directly criticize the rules, noting the association did not want to appear to be against safe bus operations.
According to the South Jersey Transportation Authority, the overall intent of the rules overhaul is to eliminate unnecessary reporting requirements, streamline certain processes and provide more flexibility.
For example, penalties for violating authority rules are being streamlined: $250 for a first offense, $400 for a second offense and $500 for any subsequent offense.
The proposed rules include dozens of amendments and updated regulations, plus the controversial increase in the authority's "oversight of bus operator safety performance."
Specifically, the authority proposed that bus operators holding a daily permit or a medallion and making 10 or more trips to Atlantic City during a preceding 90-day period to "notify the authority of any summons, citation, complaint or other written notice of a traffic safety violation issued to the holder or its employee."
This requirement, said the authority, is intended "to promote operator safety and to inform activity center operators (i.e. casinos) of bus operator performance."
From all indications, however, this provision is being sent to the authority dumpster.
Written comments on the proposed rules must be submitted by Dec. 5 to: Laura McAllister Cox, Esquire, Cooper Levenson April Niedelman & Wagenhaim, 1125 Atlantic Ave., Atlantic City, NJ 08401.
The authority has a deadline of Dec. 23, to adopt new rules.
To contact the executive director of the South Jersey Transportation Authority, write to: James A. Crawford, South Jersey Transportation Authority, P.O. Box 351, Hammonton, NJ 08037.
The authority's board is comprised of the following members: Chairman Frank Spencer and Commissioners Stanley R. Glassey, Charles E. Owens, Louis Toscano, James M. Dwyer, James Washington, Carl W. Block, Jack Lettiere and William Watley. To write to board members, use the same address as Crawford.