Category: Bus news

Congress OKs Amtrak, air, bus, transit funding

November 21, 2011 WASHINGTON — Congress, unable to agree on very much lately, has agreed on funding for Amtrak, bus transportation, commercial aviation and transit through Sept. 30, 2012. The funding is for fiscal year 2012, which began Oct. 1. Earlier, Congress agreed to legislation extending [...]

Tags air, Amtrak, bus, commercial air, Essential Air Service, FY 2012, transit

Fighting the fight for equitable transit funding

October 26, 2011 By BONNIE MORRAlternate Vice President, Bus Department As some in Congress seek to slash spending on public transit – the only affordable means for millions of Americans going to and from work – ridership is soaring. The American Public Transit Association says more than five [...]

Tags American Public Transit Association, Bonnie Morr, transit, University of Wisconsin

House bill would help restore transit service, jobs

October 17, 2011 WASHINGTON – A bi-partisan bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives to bring financial relief to distressed transit systems and to help stem cuts in transit jobs and service. Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.) and Rep. Steve Latourette (R-Ohio) have introduced H.R. 32 [...]

Tags bus, Local Flexibilty for Transit Assistance Act, Russ Carnahan, Steve LaTourette, transit

Court orders FMCSA to consider UTU concerns

September 26, 2011 By Calvin StudivantAlternate Vice President, Bus Department In late August, a federal appeals court vacated the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s final rule requiring electronic onboard recorders. The court said the rule does not sufficiently protect drivers from [...]

Tags Calvin Studivant, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, FMCSA, Local 1715, Local 172, National Labor Relations Board, NLRB, on-board recorders

Bus, transit and EAS funding extended

September 16, 2011 WASHINGTON – Federal Transit Administration bus-project and other transit funding – in danger owing to political squabbling — will remain in place at least through March 31, 2012, following House and Senate action to extend temporarily, for the eighth time since 2009, h [...]

Tags bus funding, EAS, essential air services, Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Transit Administration, transit funding

Another UTU bus organizing win

September 7, 2011 PERRIS, Calif. – In the 24th organizing victory in 43 months, the UTU has added representation of additional employees of Southland Transit here. Following the lead of bus drivers and mechanics of Southland Transit, who voted “UTU, yes” in June, the company’s call center empl [...]

Tags Bonnie Morr, organizing, Southland Transit

Bus companies ordered to post organizing message

August 29, 2011 WASHINGTON — Employers, including union and non-union bus companies, covered by the National Labor Relations Act must now post notices on bulletin boards informing employees they have a right under federal law to organize and be represented by a labor union. The Nationa [...]

Tags National Labor Relations Act, National Labor Relations Board, NLRB, organizing

Court validates concern over bus-driver harassment

August 29, 2011 WASHINGTON – When UTU Bus Department Alternate Vice President Calvin Studivant was appointed to a 20-member congressionally created Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee earlier this summer, he was no shrinking violet. Studivant had serious concerns about a proposal by the [...]

Tags Calvin Studivant, electronic onboard recorders, EOBR, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, FMCSA, hours-of-service

Learning to be better leaders

August 2, 2011 Morr By BONNIE MORR Alternate Vice President, Bus Department Bus Department workshops at the San Antonio and New York regional meetings were among the most informative in many years, and reflect the promise of President Futhey to beef-up and place greater emphasis on those wo [...]

Tags Bonnie Morr, regional meetings

Rising bus death toll accentuates safety reform need

July 25, 2011 As the UTU continues to lobby safety regulators and Congress on the need for bus-operator fatigue abatement, improved driver training and tougher bus-safety inspections, tragic events are placing even more emphasis on this topic. Since January, according to Advocates for High [...]

Tags bus safety