In response to the article, "Listing of safe operators includes dubious carriers" in the July 1 issue, I want to thank you for recognizing the hard work Transportation Safety Exchange has done to provide a free list of TSX-approved, point-to-point motor carriers to the public so they can easily make informed decisions about which carriers they choose to ride.

As you know, TSX is an industry-pioneering rating organization that inspects, monitors and reports the safety performance of motor carriers in the ground transportation industry. And because we truly believe in our vision of making the roads safer, we decided to offer the point-to-point service free of charge to the general public.

This free listing displays the TSX-approved operators (easily identifiable by the prominent, full-color, TSX-approved logos next to their company names):

However, in an effort to ensure that there is no confusion in discerning between the TSX-approved carriers and those carriers that are not approved, we have already implemented a change to make that even more clear.

Now, any motor carrier that is not TSX approved will be prominently designated as "Not Currently TSX Approved."

I am disappointed the headline and much of the early portion of article includes comments about inclusion of "dubious carriers" and statements TSX did no vetting of the carriers.

When I was first alerted to this issue on June 15, 2012, at 1 p.m. by your representative, I explained that this was a system error and that our policy is to include only motor carriers in good standing with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in the TSX point-to-point motor carrier listing. Corrections were made within 90 minutes of our discussion, an action of which you were aware, and noted in the article.

I believe it was unfair of you to portray this process error that was quickly corrected, and provide the impression that the information presented was flawed.

This portrayal detracts from the mission we share with the United Motorcoach Association of helping the public and the industry identity the safer point-to-point operators.

As for the assertion the free list of TSX-approved, point-to-point motor carriers lacks detailed information on individual motorcoach companies, Id like to remind you that TSX comprehensive reviews are investigations performed by TSX (a private company) for motor carriers to allow us to form an overall assessment about the safety management controls and procedures used by the motor carrier.

The resulting detailed information gleaned from these investigations is necessarily confidential between TSX and the motor carrier.

Our subscribers have told us that the safety information on motorcoach carriers that FMCSA provides through its various web sites is overwhelming and confusing, particularly to those who are not part of the transportation industry.

TSX has made identifying TSX-approved motor carriers simple and user-friendly. The TSX approval is the standard of excellence in the industry.

We at TSX continue to be committed to a higher standard for ground transportation safety. We are very excited that free TSX point-to-point motor carrier listing provides user-friendly and valuable information. I encourage everyone to visit the free listing of TSX-approved point-to-point motor carriers on the Transportation Safety Exchange web site: www.GetThereSafely.com.

Patrick Labriola, president
Transportation Safety Exchange
plabriolatsx@tsxcr.com