I read your recent article in Bus & Motorcoach News and was taken aback by the inaccuracies and felt compelled to respond. ("Mark-up is hefty for Super Bowl Service; operator cries foul," January issue)

First, I was surprised that you would assert as fact information provided by one operator providing a few coaches on a project involving well over 400 buses on the day of game alone. Further, it is simply amazing to me that you wouldn't contact TMS (Transportation Management Services) or Gameday (Management Group) to ask if what you had heard was factual and to secure our perspective on this situation. It certainly doesn't seem to me that your fact checking and research have proven to be very effective in this case.

To that end, I'd like to set the record straight as it pertains to TMS.

First, we are providing less than 20 percent of the vehicles for this event, and I can only speak to that portion of the equipment. Second, TMS procures many coaches around the country for numerous events and we possess strong relationships with many motorcoach operators around the country.

In fact, one such operator that was dismayed at how we were denigrated in this article forwarded us the article for review. We often procure buses across events and try hard to be fair with small and large operators alike, as we rely upon them to conduct our business throughout the course of the year.

Many of the vehicles we contracted for the Super Bowl will also be used on subsequent events, including a large convention the following week in Orlando. Our negotiated rates include consideration for this multi-event approach and our ability to provide additional business for regional operators throughout the year.

The bus operators have a business decision to make as to whether they wish to work for the offered rates, and the operator you referenced evidently decided it was worth it. Nevertheless, the same operator chose to malign the very company(ies) it contracted with for this work. More importantly, the bold claims (by the operator) regarding our profits are untrue.

In fact, TMS does incur many other costs associated with this work, including staff costs which are not reimbursed separately, almost 150 hours of senior manager time to prepare for and manage the work, travel expenses for a number of staff and the manager, long-distance charges, insurance expense and other hard and soft costs. All toll, these costs for TMS on the Super Bowl alone run into the tens of thousands of dollars.

Further, we take on great risk and liability, contrary to your operator's claims. When all these costs are factored in, TMS contract profit on the Super Bowl will likely be less than 20 percent, reasonable by any standard, and far lower than (the operators) ridiculous assertions.

My understanding is that our friends at Gameday also incur significant expenses above and beyond the bus costs paid to operators, including costs for establishing the local office, paying for the many staff they have on-site, (including labor and travel/lodging expense), hotel accommodations for drivers, insurance, and the like as well, and my understanding is these costs are covered out of the bus revenue.

I suspect the operator you quoted had no knowledge of these costs being borne by Gameday in execution of this contract.

In any event, I would encourage your publication to take greater care when you malign a company publicly with disregard for appropriate standards for fact gathering and fact checking and without request for comment from the party you are maligning. To take what you've heard from one small operator, providing a tiny percentage of buses for this job, and assume that the facts are true, and publish it as such, is both unprofessional and inappropriate.

Kevin O'Connor
Chief Operating Officer
Transportation Management Services