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Aug 26, 2008 7:15 am US/Central
Revoked Texas Bus Operators Won't Shut Down
FORT WORTH (AP) ―
An official for the Texas Department of Transportation said 201 Texas motorcoach operators in the last 24 months were told their authorization was revoked but an unknown number returned under new names.
Carol Davis, director of TXDOT's motor carrier division, said two of every five Texas charter bus companies have been ordered off the road in the last two years.
She said state officials were trying to find out how many revoked companies were operating under a different name.
About 300 bus companies have permission to operate legally in Texas.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has been publicly cracking down on so-called "rogue" motorcoach operators in the wake of an Aug. 8 bus crash near Sherman that left 17 passengers dead. The operator in that accident, Iguala BusMex Inc., was an offshoot of another company, Angel Tours Inc., that had been shut down earlier.
Authorities recently shut down bus companies in Irving and Houston for being affiliated with revoked companies.
By late September, state officials will begin posting complaints filed against bus companies on TXDOT's Web site,
www.txdot.gov, Davis said.
"Consumers really need this information to make choices when hiring a busing company to transport their children," Davis said.
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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