WASHINGTON — A former John McCain operative has been nominated by President Obama to fill a Republican seat on the Surface Transportation Board. The nomination requires Senate confirmation. It is not clear whether there is sufficient time for the lame-duck Congress to a [...]
WASHINGTON — A national ban on cell-phone use by bus drivers has been proposed by the U.S. DOT. It is expected to be put in place before March. Bus drivers already are banned by federal regulation from texting while working. “Every time a commercial truck or bus d [...]
Now that Congress has approved, and sent to President Obama for signing, the compromise tax cut and jobless benefits legislation, the question UTU members have, is, “What does it mean for me?” For the jobless — and there are currently some five applicants fo [...]
Last week was not a good one for two Midwest bus drivers. In Urbana, Ill., a transit driver who chose to run smack dab over a snowman lost her job, reports the Chicago Tribune. The snowman had been built in the middle of a University of Illinois campus street. A YouTube-poste [...]
WASHINGTON — Unsafe commercial bus operators are to be targeted by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration through a program to be called Compliance Safety Accountability. The agency said the program will include an analysis of safety-based violations — in [...]
WASHINGTON — Truckers won’t be happy when the new Congress, with John Mica (R-Fla.) chairing the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, looks at raising the federal motor fuels tax. Mica told the Florida Times-Union that he supports raising the feder [...]
BUFFALO — UTU-member and Buffalo school bus driver Yolanda Luciano (Local 1908) is being hailed as a hero — likely saving the lives of one or more of the eight elementary-school students aboard her First Student bus by engaging in a split-second emergency defensiv [...]
WASHINGTON — House Republicans selected their committee leaders Dec. 7. As expected, John Mica (R-Fla.) was elected to chair the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee for 2011-2012. Most legislation affecting air, bus and rail members originates in this committe [...]
WASHINGTON — Random drug and alcohol tests administered by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Federal Railroad Administration and the Federal Transit Administration to air, bus and rail workers in safety sensitive p [...]
A zero-tailpipe-emissions transit bus is in the works from GE Global Research, report canadiandriver.com and wired.com. The new technology, according to canadiandriver.com, combines an energy-dense sodium batter with a high-power lithium battery, and could “help acceler [...]
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