Do not use US Coachways

[Bluesky55J]

To all fellow teams: Please do not use US Coachways for any busing needs. They are a broker company that tries to pull buses from other businesses. They'll take your order, tell you they have a bus, and then try to find you a bus at the quote that they gave you, but if they can not find a place that will take the quote they will wait until the day before your trip then cancel at the last minute because no one took the job. They simply schedule with another company and then take a cut. Team 56 is frantically working on finding a new bus for our trip today to St. Louis but chances are slim. We have heard from a multitude of other teams about bad experiences with this bus company. So please, don't book from them.

Thank you

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by Bluesky55J

To all fellow teams: Please do not use US Coachways for any busing needs. They are a broker company that tries to pull buses from other businesses. They'll take your order, tell you they have a bus, and then try to find you a bus at the quote that they gave you, but if they can not find a place that will take the quote they will wait until the day before your trip then cancel at the last minute because no one took the job. They simply schedule with another company and then take a cut. Team 56 is frantically working on finding a new bus for our trip today to St. Louis but chances are slim. We have heard from a multitude of other teams about bad experiences with this bus company. So please, don't book from them.

Thank you

So sorry to hear of this team 56! Our team had the exact same thing happen to us last year on the Tuesday morning we departed for the Championship that sent us into a mad scramble.

We worked with our school district and got approval to drive out to St. Louis in rented 12 passenger vans with no more than 10 people in them. Your results may vary with your school district but in the end it was cheaper to drive with an overnight stay over using a bus.

[Gary Dillard]

Originally Posted by BrendanB

We worked with our school district and got approval to drive out to St. Louis in rented 12 passenger vans with no more than 10 people in them.

In Alabama it's against state law to transport school students in 12 passenger vans, rental companies ask if you are transporting students and will not rent to you. I think this is state law in several states, I didn't realize it until I started checking into it this year.

[Dunngeon]

Originally Posted by Gary Dillard

In Alabama it's against state law to transport school students in 12 passenger vans, rental companies ask if you are transporting students and will not rent to you. I think this is state law in several states, I didn't realize it until I started checking into it this year.

Any idea why? Seems like a random law to have.

[KMeyers]

Originally Posted by Dunngeon

Any idea why? Seems like a random law to have.

According to the government, 12 passenger vans qualify as a "school bus" since they seat more than 10 people, and they don't meet school bus roll-over regulations.

[TachyonicTalker]

We (FTC 5070) had the same issue with US Coachways going to the South Superregional this year. They canceled on us on Friday (after hassling them a bit for confirmation) when we had to leave the next Monday. Luckily we got a bus from Pegasus in time, but that put us in quite a panic.

So when we were reserving a bus for Championships for our FRC team 4013, we made sure to avoid US Coachways.

Completely agree with OP to avoid booking with them.

[Qbot2640]

Originally Posted by KMeyers

According to the government, 12 passenger vans qualify as a "school bus" since they seat more than 10 people, and they don't meet school bus roll-over regulations.

It is actually another one of those mis-targeted rules. Current models are quite safe, but in most states the rules are written based on capacity. A new 15 passenger van is much less likely to roll over than, say, a 1983 8 passenger.

[FrankJ]

Originally Posted by KMeyers

According to the government, 12 passenger vans qualify as a "school bus" since they seat more than 10 people, and they don't meet school bus roll-over regulations.

That might be a local school system rule, it is not a state law in GA. The government is big place. Rules vary and are often contradictory. Especially when it comes to full size passenger vans.

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by Gary Dillard

In Alabama it's against state law to transport school students in 12 passenger vans, rental companies ask if you are transporting students and will not rent to you. I think this is state law in several states, I didn't realize it until I started checking into it this year.

This is what our school had been telling us for years that it was a law (which it is in several states) until the incident with our bus came up last year when we were then told that 15 passenger vans were definitely illegal and 12 passenger vehicles were the max capacity vehicle as long as there were no more than 10 people. They just preferred all school groups utilize buses so it was easier to stand behind a blanket rule but at the end of the day it was the preference of our school keeping us from using them.

Your results will vary but we were told for four years it was illegal and when the rubber met the road it wasn't.

[Gary Dillard]

I had checked our state law and unfortunately found this one to be true; I don't just take someone's word for it. Our rookie year when I started the team and got ready to place a big AndyMark order on my credit card, I got nailed with the you-can't-order-stuff-without-an-approved-PO speech and was told that was state law. At week 3 of build season and still no PO's approved, I checked and it wasn't the case - the school board was very sympathetic to understanding our needs during build season and waived their "local policy" for us.

Here is a copy of the current policy on vans in Alabama

[Conor Ryan]

Originally Posted by Gary Dillard

I had checked our state law and unfortunately found this one to be true; I don't just take someone's word for it. Our rookie year when I started the team and got ready to place a big AndyMark order on my credit card, I got nailed with the you-can't-order-stuff-without-an-approved-PO speech and was told that was state law. At week 3 of build season and still no PO's approved, I checked and it wasn't the case - the school board was very sympathetic to understanding our needs during build season and waived their "local policy" for us.

Here is a copy of the current policy on vans in Alabama

Actually its quite a common policy.

Here is a research survey from 2008 (its likely still relevant) on 12 and 15 passenger vans and students.
http://www.safercar.gov/staticfiles/...vap2008ap1.pdf

• 29 states have laws or regulations that prohibit the use of vans for transporting public school students to and from school and school-related activities.
• 12 states have laws and regulations that prohibit the use of vans for transporting public school students to and from school, but allow the use of vans for school activity trips. [Note: One state has passed legislation that prohibits the use of vans for activity trips.]
• 9 states allow the use of vans for transporting public school students to and from school and school-related activities. [Note: One of these nine states has passed legislation that will not allow the use of vans to transport students after June 1, 2008. Another state has a statewide, self-insurance pool that will not insure vans used to transport students.] In many states, the laws and regulations that apply to public schools may not apply to private and church-sponsored schools

In states where it is allowed, frequently the institutional insurance policy you are under will not cover instances where you have 11+ people in a 15 passenger van. When I was in Ohio, we were permitted to get a 15 passenger van for the additional space for the robot and bags, however we could only have 10 passengers in it, due to the university insurance policy. So do your homework and you'll have a little more space!

[OZ_341]

Originally Posted by Bluesky55J

To all fellow teams: Please do not use US Coachways for any busing needs. They are a broker company that tries to pull buses from other businesses. They'll take your order, tell you they have a bus, and then try to find you a bus at the quote that they gave you, but if they can not find a place that will take the quote they will wait until the day before your trip then cancel at the last minute because no one took the job. They simply schedule with another company and then take a cut. Team 56 is frantically working on finding a new bus for our trip today to St. Louis but chances are slim. We have heard from a multitude of other teams about bad experiences with this bus company. So please, don't book from them.

Thank you

If I could suggest a company. Try Hagey Tours in Colmar PA.
They are complete professionals and very reasonable. 341 has used them for years. We are not affiliated with this company in any way, but have absolutely loved their service and flexibility. Availability might be tough with short notice, but give them a call.

[MisterJ]

Originally Posted by OZ_341

If I could suggest a company. Try Hagey Tours in Colmar PA.
They are complete professionals and very reasonable. 341 has used them for years. We are not affiliated with this company in any way, but have absolutely loved their service and flexibility. Availability might be tough with short notice, but give them a call.

Team 56 - Your fellow MAR friends from 3974 are having the same issues with the same company. Unprofessional service, final prices thousands of dollars more than the original quote, and general frustration all week. (We were in the same boat as you, until we ponied up an extra $3k for them to miraculously "recover" a bus, now they are trying to refuse to arrive at the time quoted on the invoice.) I'm holding my breath until our bus arrives late tonight.

OZ - Your suggestion of Hagey is a fantastic one. I've ridden on Hagey buses at least a dozen times and I've had nothing but great experiences. (Our bus with US Coachways was reserved by someone else, or Hagey would have been my very first choice.)

See you in St. Louis... fingers crossed for all of us.

[Bluesky55J]

Good News! We got a bus! We went with a company called Triple D and they are sending us a bus as we speak. We are so grateful to all of the teams who helped us! If we can help anyone else we are more than willing to do so. Thank you all so much!

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by Bluesky55J

Good News! We got a bus! We went with a company called Triple D and they are sending us a bus as we speak. We are so grateful to all of the teams who helped us! If we can help anyone else we are more than willing to do so. Thank you all so much!

Glad to hear it!