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IT'S TIME TO SIGN UP DRIVERS FOR THE COMPETITION AT EXPO
UMA ELECTION RESULTS ARE IN
PARK SERVICE FEES ARE GOING UP
THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX TO FIND YOUR NEXT GEN DRIVERS
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Matt Dance
Champion Coach
Region II
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Marcia Fields Milton
First Priority Trailways
Region III
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David Moody
Holiday Companies
Region II
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Bethany Schubert
Trobec's Bus Service, Inc.
Region I
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UMA members elect four to board of directors
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ALEXANDRIA, Va. – UMA members filled four open seats on the board of directors by re-electing two directors to their seats and electing two new members to join the board. Candidates are elected by region and serve three-year terms.
- David Moody of Holiday Companies in Randleman, NC – Region II (re-elected)
- Marcia Fields Milton of First Priority Trailways in District Heights, MD – Region III (re-elected)
- Bethany Schubert of Trobec’s Bus Service, Inc. – St. Stephen, MN – Region I (newly elected)
- Matt Dance of Champion Coach in Greenville, SC – Region II (newly elected)
UMA President & CEO Stacy Tetschner commented on the election, saying, “UMA members had an amazing slate of candidates to choose from in each region this year. As we move forward, I am excited to work with these individuals as we continue to build the value of membership for UMA.”
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Calling all drivers!
Think you're the best? Prove it.
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UMA's third annual International Driver Competition is gearing up and will take place January 7-8 in Fort Lauderdale at Motorcoach EXPO. Do not miss the opportunity to test your skills on paper and on the course and to meet the best drivers at the most incredible bus event of the year. The winners receive cash prizes in addition to bragging rights! Participants receive up to two nights hotel stay and complimentary registration to EXPO.
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Waymo taps former NTSB chair Deborah Hersman
to oversee safety of autonomous rideshare fleet
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Waymo, the
Alphabet
subsidiary on the cusp of launching the first autonomous rideshare service in the U.S., has hired a former top safety regulator to ensure the company's fleet of robotaxis operate safely.
Deborah Hersman, who was chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board in the Obama administration, will become chief safety officer for Waymo starting in January. She will focus on ensuring the safe operation of hundreds of driverless vehicles that are expected to shuttle passengers.
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Regional Town Hall Meetings Set for December 11, 12, 13
Go to
www.uma.org/regional
for your time and the full agenda. Each meeting will be hosted by UMA board members and focused on ELD data and compliance reviews. There'll also be a legislative and regulatory briefing and time for discussion. Phone in or log in from your computer
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Safety Seminar is almost sold out, register ASAP
Compliance officers and risk management professionals are invited to attend the 2018 UMA Safety Management Seminar, Dec. 5-6 in Ashburn, VA. Sign up today at the member rate of $295 at
www.uma.org/safety.
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ELD NEWS
Digital logging affects
truck drivers' behavior for better and for worse
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After almost a year of a federal mandate requiring Electronic Logging Devices, truck drivers have changed some behaviors for better and some for worse.
Unlike paper logs, ELDs don’t allow drivers to fudge on how long they spend behind the wheel.
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“At a previous company I drove for, as long as your receipts matched, they didn’t care what you did with your logs,” said Clark Reed, a driver for Nussbaum Transportation in Hudson, Ill. “They always pushed you.”
Some drivers admit they are speeding to beat the clock on a mandatory rest break after eight hours of driving. ELDs digitally track driving time and monitor compliance with the rest-break rule and the restriction that allows drivers behind the wheel for 11 of 14 hours before taking a 10-hour break.
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NHTSA pulls plug on self-driving school bus, ending bold experiment in Florida
BABCOCK RANCH, Fla.—Children may someday ride in self-driving school buses, but—as a Florida community learned the hard way—that mode of transportation is not yet ready.
Federal safety regulators last month demanded that the community stop carrying students on an autonomous shuttle designed to look like a school bus. A cease-and-desist letter sent by National Traffic Highway Safety Administration officials said using the vehicle for that purpose "puts the safety of children and others at risk."
Since the order, the shuttle has stopped trundling along its three-block route. The demand abruptly ended a pilot that community leaders in Babcock Ranch, a planned development northeast of Fort Myers, had begun five weeks earlier as part of an effort to incorporate innovative technologies into their housing developments.
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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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Finding new ways to bring in drivers requires thinking outside the box: Ashleigh Wright of Dean Transportation, attends community events to promote the opportunities of a career in driving.
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Finding drivers: Think beyond the obvious to attract your next-gen driving professionals
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A driver shortage in a tight job market is inspiring more companies to get creative when it comes to recruitment. Some are scouting for talent at churches and community events like parades to get out in front of potential candidates who might not have considered commercial driving. They are also emphasizing more than pay when pitching the perks of their workplaces.
That strategy is smart, research shows. When applying for jobs, applicants consider the status of a company even more than wages, according to MotorCoachJobs.com.
A company’s culture is important to today’s job applicants, especially the millennial generation, agrees Chris Goebel, president of Crossroads Advisers. The former president of a Cleveland-based coach company will moderate the roundtable discussion about recruitment and retention at the 2019 UMA Motorcoach Expo Jan. 6-10 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
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NPS fees set
— and they'll be costly
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WASHINGTON—The newest income-boosting proposal from the National Park Service (NPS) will increase park entry fees to as much as $20 per motorcoach passenger and require “road-based tour operators” to purchase a $300 commercial use authorization for every park they visit, including the 303 parks at which other visitors are not charged.
Under new procedures due to take effect on Oct. 1, 2019, a $5 “management fee” also will be due for each passenger visiting the 303 fee-less parks. Detailed explanations did not accompany the announcement, but it appears it would cost up to $550 to take 50 motorcoach passengers into one of these parks.
For trips into the 114 parks at which entry fees are levied, tour operators will pay the per- person rate charged other visitors. This fee is slated to range from $3 to $20.
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Charter service registration:
Four reasons your company should be on the FTA list
The Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Charter Service Registration has removed hundreds of bus operators from its rolls as they have simply failed to file their biennial update. Currently, less than 10 percent of the motorcoach industry is on the Federal Transit Authority’s list.
“That small of a presence isn’t good for operators or the industry,” says Bill Allen, president of the Sacramento-based Amador Stage Lines, Inc. The Region I Director led a discussion about the issue during a UMA Town Hall in September.
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2019 Motorcoach EXPO
The future of the motorcoach industry!
INNOVATE - EDUCATE - CELEBRATE
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A chance to get to Florida while the rest of the country is weathering winter temperatures would be a waste without a trip to the beach and EXPO will not disappoint. After a day of education, we'll board motorcoaches straight from Monday's Sneak Preview in the EXPO hall and head to the After-Party on the beach complete with bonfires, a pig roast, amazing food and drink and, of course, the best company of all! Everyone is encouraged to wear their beach party attire to the EXPO hall for the Sneak Preview, so we can get the party started right afterwards.
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Don't let a small budget
limit your marketing plan
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The online advertising pros at WordStream have encouraging and helpful advice for ways to get the most out of a small marketing budget and make a big impact. They've put together a list of 22 marketing tactics you can put to work to power up your company's brand and products.
Number one on the list, "Publish Great Content," might seem like it's easier said than done, but WordStream offers great ideas like using top ten lists, tip collections, best practices and ways to repurpose content in meaningful ways.
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UMA offers new insurance program that generates revenue & meets customer needs
USI Travel Insurance Services has designed a unique and exclusive
UMA members-only travel insurance program for charter bus operations
, along with a more traditional travel insurance package for tour operators.
The program not only provides a valuable product for a UMA member’s customers, it allows the member to highlight their company’s position as a unique travel professional in their community. Members will earn additional income from the product as well.
USI Travel Insurance Services is offering two plans to members: Comprehensive Travel Protection for Tours and the
UMA members-only exclusive
plan for charter bus customers, featuring coverage for high-limit emergency medical evacuations, baggage, and much more.
To learn more, contact Sharon Broo, CTA, at USI Travel Insurance Services,
Sharon.Broo@usi.com
or call 770.905.4065.
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IRS warns businesses of possible' Tax Transcript' scams;
National Tax Security Awareness Week will include webinar
December 3-7 is National Tax Security Awareness Week.
The Internal Revenue Service will feature events nationwide next week, highlighting a daily security topic and marking the launch of a special
@IRSTaxSecurity
Twitter handle to keep the public aware of emerging threats throughout the 2019 tax filing season.
IRS warns of “Tax Transcript” email scam
The IRS does not send unsolicited emails to the public, nor would it email a sensitive document such as a tax transcript, which is a summary of a tax return.
The IRS warns businesses that there has been a surge of fraudulent emails impersonating the IRS and using tax transcripts as bait to entice users to open documents containing malware. The scam is especially problematic for businesses that open the malware as it can spread throughout the network; potentially taking months to remove.
The scam disguises itself as “IRS Online” and carries an attachment labeled “Tax Account Transcript” or something similar, and the subject line uses some variation of the phrase “tax transcript.” Do not open and forward to
phishing@irs.gov
.
Free IRS Webinar
The IRS is offering a free webinar Monday, December 3, 2018 at 2:00 PM (EST) to help taxpayers understand the Dark Web and how it is used as a repository for stolen identities, credit data, tax information and banking/financial information. To register, go to
Tax Security Awareness: Understanding the Dark Web.
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Motorcoach Industry Calendar
DECEMBER 2018
JANUARY 2019
FEBRUARY 2019
MARCH 2019
- 26 PBA Board Meeting – Wyndham York, York, PA http://pabus.org/
- 26 PBA Investing in the Motorcoach Industry: Increasing your ROI seminar, Wyndham York, York, PA http://pabus.org/
- 26 PBA Drivers & Employees of Distinction Awards Program – Wyndham York, York, PA http://pabus.org/
- 27 PBA Marketplace Group Leader Show, Wyndham York, York, PA
JUNE 2019
- 18-21 PBA Annual Meeting, Resorts Casino, Atlantic City, NJ (Hosted by Atlantic City/MeetAC)
- 21 PBA Board Meeting, Atlantic City http://pabus.org/
AUGUST 2019
- 6-9 IMG Strategic Alliance Meeting, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
- 14 PBA Safety & Preparedness Workshop, York Springs, PA http://pabus.org/
- 14-18 NAMO Annual Conference & Marketplace – Springfield, MO http://www.namo-coaches.org/
JANUARY 2020
- 19-23 UMA Motorcoach EXPO, Nashville, TN
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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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