Today, the FMCSA announced the agency has put the brakes on an Atlanta-based passenger carrier, STSC Transportation Services.
The FMCSA has ordered STSC to immediately cease all passenger operations after the agency found the company was “endangering the traveling public by failing to ensure the safety of its vehicles and drivers.”
STSC Transportation Services, Inc. operates between Philadelphia and New York City.
The order comes after FMCSA investigators found that STSC failed to ensure the company’s drivers were properly qualified and licensed. In addition, STSC was cited for not providing required safety-releated records and for failing to maintain proper registration.
During a November 2013 investigation of STSC, the FMCSA found the following:
* Lack of management controls to ensure proper inspection, repair, and maintenance of vehicles.
* STSC had repeatedly been cited during inspections on six occasions for continuing to operate buses after being placed out of service for serious safety violations.
* STSC failed to produce any proof of annual inspection, preventative maintenance, and repairs completed for its buses.
* Three inspections found inoperable emergency exits.
* Failure to conduct required random tests for alcohol and illegal drug use by drivers.
* Failure to ensure that its drivers adhered to federal hours-of-service limitations to prevent fatigued driving. STSC Transportation was cited for missing records of duty status, exceeding hours of service limitations, and falsifying records of duty status.
“Safety is our top priority and we will continue to use every means available to ensure everyone on our roads and highways reaches their destinations safely,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “This includes shutting down unsafe bus companies that ignore vitally important safety rules.”
“FMCSA investigators work diligently across the country to prevent crashes from occurring by shutting down bus companies that put their passengers and the public at risk,” said Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator Anne S. Ferro. “In the past three years, we have more than tripled the number of dangerous companies and drivers we have taken off the road and we will continue taking aggressive action against carriers that disregard our safety standards.”