CHEAP BUSES-A DEATH TRAP? D.O.T. SPEAKS OUT

WHAT IS COMMONLY KNOWN AS SIDEWALK PICK-UP BUSES (CHEAP , NOT HIGHLY REGULATED, "BOLT", ETC,)) ARE BEING HEAVILY MONITORED & CLOSED...

 

Besides the shuttered bus operations, 10 people -- company owners, managers and employees -- were ordered to stop all involvement in passenger transportation operations, including selling bus tickets, the Transportation Department said.

Cheap bus rides between Philadelphia and places like New York and Washington, D.C. took a hit Thursday after local “Chinatown Bus” companies were shut down suddenly the night before.

The website for Philly-based New Century Travel Bus had the following message posted after the government shut their operation and 25 others along the I-95 corridor down:

“The Website is Temporary Close Down”

NBC10 talked to travelers needing to find another way to go after showing up to find their bus trips were canceled from the pickup point at 11th and Arch Streets in Chinatown.

Other Philly-based companies included in the government crackdown included Wahoo Tour and Charter Inc. and Universe Bus Inc.

More than two dozen bus operators -- some dubbed as "Chinatown Buses" -- that transported more than 1,800 passengers a day along Interstate 95 between New York and Florida have been closed for safety violations in what federal officials say is the government's largest single safety crackdown of the motor coach industry, according to a release from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Teams of officials for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, armed with legal orders declaring the bus operations imminent hazards to public safety, swooped down Wednesday on companies based in six states: Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, New York, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Officials withheld details about the operation until Thursday.

The shutdown orders were aimed at the companies' headquarters and at bus pickup locations. Most of the 233 bus routes serviced by the companies either departed from or terminated in New York City's Chinatown district.

UPDATE DECEMBER 12, 2013:
52 OF THESE BUS COMPANIES WERE SHUT DOWN TODAY  (go onlie for the complete list)--these are the NEW YORK ONES:

—Coach USA Tour Inc., not affiliated with Coach USA Inc. of Paramus, N.J., which still operates.
—Horizon Coach Inc.
—Gotham Coach Service Inc.
—Uniworld Tours, Inc.