The FMCSA announced it has ordered a Mexico-based passenger carrier to cease all operations in the U.S.
The FMCSA declared Autobuses Zacatecanos, LLC, an imminent hazard to public safety. The carrier transported passengers from Mexico to Denver, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Chicago.
During an investigation of Autobuses Zacatecanos, investigators found the company failed to ensure that its vehicles were properly and routinely inspected, repaired and maintained. Investigators found that four buses had such serious safety violations that all four vehicles were immediately declared out of service.
In addition, each of the buses was found to have inadequate and/or obstructed emergency exits.
Furthermore, FMCSA investigators also found that Autobuses Zacatecanos failed to ensure that its drivers complied with HOS requirements and that drivers failed to properly maintain logs. The company’s drivers did not log the 10-hour drive frm Investigators found Zacatecas, Mexico, to the U.S. border.
This is the sixth shutdown of a passenger carrier in the last month. More than 50 specially trained “Quick Strike” safety investigators targeted high-risk passenger carriers.
In the past three weeks, FMCSA investigators have shut down bus companies in the District of Columbia, Georgia, Ohio, New York and Utah.
13 bus companies and seven trucking companies have been shut down by the FMCSA since the beginning of 2013. In addition, three the agency has ordered three CDL holders out of service.
“Every bus company that operates in the U.S. must comply with the same safety regulations, and if they do not, we will take immediate action,” said FMCSA Administrator Anne S. Ferro . “We have zero tolerance for putting the lives of passengers and drivers at risk. All travelers on our roadways are entitled to reach their destination safely.”
A copy of the imminent hazard out-of-service order can be viewed athttp://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/documents/about/news/2013/AutobusesZacatecanos.pdf