Bus drivers hos vs trucker drivers hos

I think with the new regulations that allow time sitting in a seat while not driving as "off duty", a Co driver could be in a passenger seat and be considered off duty as per hos regs.

 

The bus rules are the same as the truck rules USED to be. When the truck rules were changed to 11 in 14 (non-stop clock) with a 10 hour break, the bus drivers got to keep running the old 10 in 15 (clock only counts lines 3 & 4) with an 8 hour break.

Bus drivers don't have to take a 10 hour break. Only 8 is required.
Bus drivers get a 15 hour work day, but their clock stops whenever they are not on duty. Time spent on lines 1 & 2 do not count against the bus driver's 15 hour work day.

 

As has mentioned, the rules for passenger carrying are the same as property carrying used to be, prior to 2003. The reason is simple. The motor coach industry lobbying group in DC realized that in most cases they would have to equip the busses with sleepers and team drivers. It would have been a serious financial burden.
Sooooo, they convinced FMCSA and NHTSA that it is safe for them to operate thusly. The fact that there have been many serious bus accidents, frequently after the driver has been on a run for 18, 20 or more hours has not stopped the lobbying group from prevailing.
Why?
Political. The publics perception of the bus industry is much better than that of the "killer" truck industry. People remember a motor coach and their driver as a fun time, with a group of friends or an organization. Every time attempts to change the law, the lobbyimg group just threatens to bring 100's of motorcoaches full of indignant "voters" to the capitol (free tour of the mall in DC), and Mr. Congressman just backs down.

 

In Canada we still have the 14 hour window. Believe it or not but the US system is actually more restrictive to us than the Canadian one. For example, I'm from Ottawa Canada and when we do trips to Washington DC we need to have a driver start the trip and drive to the border (in this case at the Thousand Islands). Then the "official" driver, who was waiting there, takes over and goes to Washington. On the way back however only one driver is needed because we have more than enough time under the Canadian system.

Our days are usually longer than truckers but with much less actual driving time. We don't have sleepers but it's still pretty easy to rest in a bus.

 

I drive motor coach and recently had a 22 hour day. Here's how it went down. I woke up in my comfortable hotel room, drove my group 1.7 miles to their venue, returned to the hotel where I spent the next 16 hours getting plenty of rest and sleep, went back to pick them up and drove them 4 hours back home. The balance of time was pretrip, post trip, fueling, etc.

My question to everyone here: What do you consider unsafe in this situation?

I think the major difference between OTR drivers and motorcoach drivers is that motorcoach drivers often have a lot of downtime during their day. We are actually encouraged to to take naps while on the job OTR drivers don't get the same amount of downtime since loads usually need to keep rolling. Tour group itineraries are a completely different thing.

 

How difficult is it for a commercial bus driver to transition to a bobtail flatbed truck?