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NOMINATIONS FOR UMA BOARD CLOSE OUT ON AUGUST 1, 2019
2020 EXPO EDUCATION LINEUP IS ONLINE NOW
UMA JOINS COALITION SUPPORTING STOP ACT
SAFETY MANAGEMENT SEMINAR WILL BE JUST IN TIME TO ADDRESS BIG ISSUES AFFECTING COMPLIANCE
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Are key members of your team receiving the UMA Member Newsletter every Tuesday? It's easy to sign up and keep everyone on your team up to date on industry trends, membership benefits, and important dates and events. Click the button!
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UMA Board Nominations
Due August 1
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Coalition urges Congress to support STOP Act
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UMA is part of a coalition of 27 national, state and regional bus, motorcoach, and school bus associations in support of the STOP Act. The Stop Act, with bipartisan support in both houses of Congress, calls upon the U.S. Department of Transportation to review state laws (enforcement and penalties, technology, driver education, distraction) and create a public safety messaging campaign on illegal passing of stopped school buses.
The coalition (listed below) sent a letter to all congressional offices last week calling for support of this measure that is aimed at preventing the tragedies that can result from illegal passing.
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"Children are 70 times safer going to and from school in a yellow school bus than by walking, biking, being driven by parents in cars or teens driving themselves. However, passing of stopped school buses, illegal in all 50 States, has reached epidemic proportions."
—
excerpt from the coalition letter
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- Alabama Motorcoach Association
- Asian-American Motorcoach Association
- Bus Association of New York State
- California Bus Association
- California School Transportation Association
- Connecticut School Transportation Association
- Georgia Motorcoach Operators Association
- Maryland Motorcoach Association
- Maryland School Bus Contractors Association
- Midwest Bus and Motorcoach Association
- Minnesota Charter Bus Operator's Association
- Minnesota School Bus Operators Association
- Montana School Bus Contractors Association
- Motorcoach Association of South Carolina
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- National Association of Motorcoach Operators
- National School Transportation Association
- New Jersey School Bus Contractors Association
- New York School Bus Contractors Association
- North Carolina Motorcoach Association
- Northwest Motorcoach Association
- Pennsylvania Bus Association
- Pennsylvania School Bus Association
- School Transportation Association of Massachusetts
- Tennessee Motor Coach Association
- The Greater New Jersey Motorcoach Association
- United Motorcoach Association
- Wisconsin School Bus Association
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SURVEY: Save on EXPO when you participate!
Mini Bus/Executive Coach Survey
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Help us with our survey and we'll help you with EXPO Savings!
Please complete
a short, four question survey
about your company's fleet.
When you complete our survey by Friday, August 2,
you'll be given a code for $25 off on operator registration for UMA's 2020 Motorcoach EXPO. This offer applies to operators only.
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Take our survey by COB Friday, Aug. 2, to earn your reward! The survey takes less than one minute to complete!
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AMA - SCMA - GMOA Regional Meeting brings operators together for education, networking, fun
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Ken Presley is in Montgomery, Alabama for the regional meeting of the Alabama Motorcoach Association, South Central Motorcoach Association, and the Georgia Motorcoach Association. He sent some photos to share with UMA members and to give a shout out to UMA Board Member Bob Greene of Amaya-Astron for sporting his UMA polo shirt!
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FMCSA Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse offers FAQs
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Operators will have a useful online resource available through FMCSA's Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse, which has recently been enhanced with a filter that makes searching and browsing easier. The FAQ provides access to more than 50 questions and answers on topics such as:
- General Information
- Registration
- Security
- Queries and Consent Requests
- Reporting Violations
- Return-to-Duty
- Cross-Border Transportation
- You can access the clearinghouse here and even subscribe to receive email updates.
Employers, drivers, medical review officers (MROs), substance abuse professionals (SAPs), and consortia/third-party administrators (C/TPAs) must register in the Clearinghouse to access the Clearinghouse database. Clearinghouse registration is scheduled to open in fall 2019.
Sign up now to receive email updates
, including a notification once registration is open.
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Congress takes another stab
at self-driving car legislation
The Verge
| July 28, 2019 | by Andrew J. Hawkins
Just when everyone had pretty much given up hope of getting lawmakers in our hyper-polarized nation’s capital to agree on a new set of rules for self-driving cars, Congress appears to be ready to try again.
Stakeholders in the autonomous vehicle industry had mostly given up hope of getting anything done this year,
after the failure of legislation
last year and the lack of action in the months that followed. But a bipartisan contingent in both the Senate and House have held five meetings in recent weeks to see if they can forge a deal.
The new bill is being written with input from both chambers in the hopes of avoiding last year’s breakdown. In late 2017, the then Republican-controlled House passed the SELF DRIVE Act, which would speed the adoption of self-driving cars and bar states from setting performance standards.
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Region I - September 10, 2019 - 2:00 p.m. ET
Region II - September 11, 2019 - 2:00 p.m. ET
Region III - September 12, 2019 - 2:00 p.m. ET
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The FMCSA Portal & It's Importance to Your Business
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The FMCSA Portal is going to become a vital tool for operators and regulators in the very near future and will increase in importance as it is used for more and more applications. Operators are invited to attend an online UMA Regional Town Hall meeting to discuss the portal, as well as regional issues, during three meetings this September.
The meetings will be hosted by members of the UMA Board and take place at the following times:
- Region I - September 10, 2019 - 2 p.m. ET
- Region II - September 11, 2019 - 2 p.m. ET
- Region III - September 12, 2019 - 2 p.m. ET
To join the meeting, either go to the URL listed below or phone in using the number below. Then use the meeting code to join in! See you in September!
Meeting Code: 366-513-9797
Phone in to: US: 1 669 900 6833 or 1 646 876 9923
Use the Meeting ID: 366 513 9797
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EXPO education sessions announced
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One of the leading reasons operators come to EXPO is the relevant education available on topics ranging from management tools, to marketing ideas, and ways to manage change. The 2020 education topics presented in Nashville include prepping your business for acquisition or succession, crisis management planning, business management, capturing costs accurately, and much more! See the full list of education offerings when you visit the
UMA Motorcoach EXPO website and remember to register soon!
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Advertisement: New opportunities in Bus & Motorcoach News
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FMCSA adds live ELD Q&A sessions to meet demand
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After December 16, 2019, all motor carriers and drivers subject to the ELD rule will be required to use electronic logging devices (ELDs) to record hours-of-service data. To help the motor carrier industry and ELD providers prepare for this important deadline, FMCSA is hosting a series of live question and answer sessions. Information on how to register is below.
To keep these sessions as informative for the participants as possible, FMCSA is segmenting the Q&A sessions by audience. Select the most relevant session for you and register using the links below.
Sessions for Motor Carriers and Drivers
Sessions for ELD Providers
Space is limited. Recordings of the sessions will be made available on the
ELD website.
Pre-Learning Coming Soon
FMCSA is currently developing a set of self-guided eLearning lessons. These lessons may address some of the questions you have or may inspire new questions you can submit to FMCSA during the live Q&A session. Register for a Q&A session now, and a link will be emailed to registered participants when these eLearning lessons are available.
Information about these Q&A sessions is also available on the News and Events page of the
ELD website.
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UMA Safety Management Seminar update:
Mark your calendars for December 4-5
From the end of AOBRDs to the rising profile of the FMCSA Portal, safety and compliance managers will need to pay close attention to regulatory changes coming up. The 2019 Safety Management Seminar, December 4-5, will be an opportune time to get on top of the changing compliance landscape. The annual Seminar sells out each year, with space available only for the first 150 registrants eager to learn what's on the minds of federal regulators and which compliance and safety issues will affect their businesses.
The Safety Management Seminar features "how-to" applications of risk management to show you how to eliminate as much risk as possible. This must-attend event is for anyone who manages safety and compliance for motorcoach fleet operations. Sessions will focus on the industry's most pressing needs and provide take-away information that attendees can put into practice ASAP. The seminar also includes updates and forecasts from:
- The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)
- Transportation Safety Administration (TSA)
- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- National Transportation Safety Board
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Bus & Motorcoach News
is mailed twice monthly to all UMA members. In addition, it's available online 24/7 at
www.busandmotorcoachnews.com
and by email, on a schedule you choose! Invite everyone on your staff to stay informed about the industry by signing up for email updates from
Bus & Motorcoach News
.
Sign up here.
You can choose daily or weekly updates! Below is a sampling of what's in our latest digital and print editions.
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Global factors tightening motorcoach insurance market
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The insurance market for bus and motorcoach operators is under pressure from many sides. Many of the troublesome issues, such as tragedies encountered around the world, are beyond the control of the industry itself, said Timothy H. Delaney, senior vice president of Lancer Insurance.
So, he said, it is more important than ever for carriers to focus on safety and risk management.
“The entire commercial auto insurance sector, which includes the motorcoach industry, is currently experiencing a hardening marketplace due to a steady increase in claims costs over the past five years. Reinsurers have also been adversely affected by global catastrophic losses combined with the poor performance of the commercial auto industry as a whole,” he said. “These losses on the reinsurance level are being felt throughout our industry as the rates for excess coverage or facultative reinsurance are rising and underwriting guidelines are tightening.”
What can an operator do to minimize premium costs and avoid being priced out of the market completely?
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Driverless shuttle manufacturer sees potential in tourism
MONTREAL–NAVYA Chief Executive Officer Étienne Hermite envisions applications for his company’s autonomous shuttles across a variety of industries, from carrying vacationing tourists to helping people get around sprawling hospital campuses.
The French startup manufactures 15-passenger shuttles that can move at up to 16 miles an hour and can stop on a dime if they cross paths with another vehicle or pedestrian.
“There is a lot of potential for tourism and other industries like hospitals and leisure parks,” Hermite told Bus & Motorcoach News at the Movin’On Summit in Montreal in early June.
The Autonom Shuttle—already in use at the University of Michigan—is intended to be communal. With 360-degree windows and seats that ring the interior, the layout makes it easy for riders to look out windows or chat.
‘Ideal solution’
Designed for the first and last mile of a trip, NAYVA is marketing its vehicles as a way to reduce congestion in urban areas. “It’s the ideal solution when you have to do the last mile after public transportation, like transit or a train. Then you take the shuttle, which drops you off to your home or your office,” Hermite said.
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MEMBER BENEFITS
Show your professionalism with a UMA member badge on your website
UMA Members are given the opportunity to use the UMA logo on any of their promotional materials. Two formats of the logo are available - high resolution for use with printed material and low resolution for use on your website with web-based products. The logo can be added to your stationery, business cards, and promotional material to proudly display your membership with the United Motorcoach Association.
Get details on the UMA website in the members-only section.
And did you know that UMA members on Busrates.com get special treatment for their profile to make it stand out, and can use the UMA logo on their listing to show their professionalism? It's another way UMA membership helps your business stay on top.
Please contact us at 1.800.424.8262 should you experience any difficulties in downloading the image files. A UMA staff member will be happy to assist you. Similarly, email Julie Ryder at
jryder@uma.org
and you can receive the artwork via email.
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Motorcoach Industry Calendar
AUGUST 2019
- 1 Deadline to nominate candidates for UMA Board of Directors
- 6-9 IMG Strategic Alliance Meeting, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
- 12-14 Midwest Bus & Motorcoach Association (MBMCA) Annual Convention and Trade Show (and Roadeo Competition), Isle Casino Hotel, Bettendorf, IA www.mbmca.org
- 14 PBA Safety & Preparedness Workshop, York Springs, PA http://pabus.org/
- 15-18 NAMO Annual Conference & Marketplace – Springfield, MO Oasis Hotel and Convention Center http://www.namo-coaches.org/
SEPTEMBER 2019
- 10 UMA Region I Town Hall Meeting - 2:00 p.m. - Join the Meeting
- 11 UMA Region II Town Hall Meeting - 2:00 p.m. - Join the Meeting
- 11 Maryland Motorcoach Association Annual Crab Feast, Kentmorr Restaurant and Crab House. Stevensville, MD
- 12 UMA Region III Town Hall Meeting - 2:00 p.m. - Join the Meeting
- 18-22 Regional Meeting of NCMA, VMA, and MCASC, Embassy/Marriott/Benton Convention Center, Winston-Salem, NC Learn More
OCTOBER 2019
- 9-10 GNJMA Fall Annual Meeting & Related Events including Group Leader Marketplace, Resorts Atlantic City http://www.gnjma.com/
- 13 -15 California Bus Association’s 46th Annual Convention and Trade Show, Sheraton Carlsbad Resort and Spa www.cbabus.com
- 20-22 Bus Association of New York (BANY) Annual Meeting and Marketplace, Sands Bethlehem, Bethlehem, PA – bany@banybus.org
- October 21-23, 201920th Annual North West Motorcoach Association ROADEO Location TBD
NOVEMBER 2019
DECEMBER
JANUARY 2020
MARCH 2020
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OCTOBER 2020
- 25- 27 California Bus Association’s 47th Annual Convention and Trade Show, Omni Rancho Las Palmas in Rancho Mirage, CA (Palm Springs) www.cbabus.com
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YOU ARE UMA
Remember, as a UMA member you have the power of discounts on the best products and services, access to relevant education, targeted professional resources, and colleagues all over the map. Remember to consult your member directory when you need help on the road, access to more vehicles to meet demand, or services out of your area. We are UMA! Want to find other members to do business with? Use the
online directory.
Reach the UMA staff by calling (703) 838-2929 or by email at
info@uma.org
. We love to hear from our members!
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