ALEXANDRIA, Va. The United Motorcoach Association has filed charter service complaints against two more public transit agencies, including one that reportedly took away a $4,900 charter from a private coach company after the customer already had paid a deposit.

Clemson Area Transit (CAT) of Clemson, S.C. and Belle Urban System in Racine, Wis., are the latest public transportation agencies to be named in the formal protests filed by UMA with the Federal Transit Administration.

UMA asked in its complaints that both agencies not only be cited for violating federal charter regulations, but that they be disqualified from receiving some federal funds for their operations.

The protests are among a series of complaints UMA has filed over the past several months against transit agencies that private operators maintain are running illegal charters and taking business away from them.

UMA contends in the filing against CAT that Atchison Charter Service in Spartanburg, S.C., had been hired in February by the college sorority of Alpha Delta Pi to transport 350 of its members on a roundtrip between Seneca, S.C. and Anderson, S.C. It said the organization paid a deposit of $980 to reserve seven buses for the trip.

Less than three weeks before the trip, however, the organization canceled the reservation, telling Atchison it had been offered a lower price by CAT and the transit agency would be handling the charter.

"Based on the number of inquiries and informal complaints I have received regarding Clemson Area Transit, I have little doubt this practice is routine," UMA Vice President Ken Presley wrote in the formal complaint.

FTA Regional Administrator Yvette G. Taylor in Atlanta, who declared the complaint had "obvious merit" and contains grounds on which relief may be granted, instructed the two sides to try to settle the issue on their own. If they are unable to do so, she said she would proceed with a formal investigation of the complaint.

Presley said UMA has not heard from CAT and the complaint is likely to be moved forward by the FTA.

The filing against Belle Urban claims the Wisconsin transit agency has been improperly disqualifying private carriers by failing to follow federal guidelines in determining if theyre "willing-and-able" providers.

Presley said in the complaint that the violations appear to be repetitive and "constitute a blatant disregard for the federal charter rules."

The complaint was supported by a letter that Riteway Bus Service in Richfield, Wis., received from Belle Urban after the private operator responded to a notice from the transit agency that it was seeking carriers to provide charters in the Racine area.

In the letter, Belle Urban admitted it regularly operates charters in the eastern part of Racine County 43 of them last year and planned to continue doing so. However, it said Riteway had been placed on its list of private carriers available for charters in other parts of the county.

"In the past we have performed short, local charters to Racine residents who desire our services," the agency wrote. "We wish to continue that practice only, and have set a charter rate that we believe makes us competitive with local private operators."

Presley contends Belle Urban has set standards for the private operators far in excess of the FTA regulations and the wording in its correspondence may discourage private carriers that might be interested in providing charter service.

Meantime, the FTA has moved forward with formal reviews of charter violation complaints that UMA filed earlier against two other transit agencies, Rome Transit Department in Rome, Ga., and Janesville Transit System in Janesville, Wis.

The FTA had given both agencies 30 days in which to settle the disputes with UMA before the federal agency moved ahead with the reviews stage.

Presley said he spoke with Rome officials and was convinced that talks with them would be futile and that the transit system was determined to continue its charter activities.

Rome Transit, according to the complaint, violated the rules by running its charters through a private shuttle service that UMA says is paid a $50 commission to write the contracts and collect the money, which then is turned over to the transit agency.

Presley said Shuttle Tran owner Isaac Rudeseal acknowledged his participation in the scam, admitting that only Rome Transit buses and drivers are used for the charters. In addition, he said Rome director, Kathy Shealy, told him the agency not only does numerous bus charters, but last year alone did 49 with its trolley bus.