Tour Company Caught with Passengers in Luggage Compartment

Detroit News: The U.S. Transportation Department today ordered a northern Michigan tour bus company to immediately halt operations after a police officer discovered six passengers in the luggage compartment.

Gladwin-based Haines Tours was ordered to stop operations after the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration declared the carrier an "imminent hazard" to public safety for its practice of transporting passengers in the motorcoach's cargo compartment and issued a seven-page order halting operations.

"People's lives were needlessly placed at risk," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in a statement. "Safety is everyone's responsibility and it begins with practicing common sense. That means not putting human beings in cargo holds."

On May 27, a Haines Tour motorcoach driven by Roger Haines, traveling from Roscommon to Clyde, Ohio, was inspected by the Ohio State Highway Patrol in Lake Township. The officer discovered that six of the 62 passengers were riding in the luggage compartment of the motorcoach, which also contained unsecured baggage. The Transportation Department said this wasn't the first time.

Last August, Haines Tours was cited for a similar illegal practice — utilizing the motorcoach's luggage compartment as an unauthorized sleeper berth for drivers.

"Despite being warned in August 2010 that it cannot transport people in the luggage compartment of its buses in violation of federal regulations, it (Haines Tours) continues to place people in the luggage compartment," the Out-of-Service order states. Continuing, it states, "(t)his Imminent Hazard Order is necessary to put an immediate stop to this highly dangerous practice."

This is the second "imminent hazard" out-of-service order issued by FMCSA to a passenger carrier company in the past 48 hours. On June 9, JCT Motor Coach, Inc., and its affiliated company, JT's Travel & Charter, Inc., of Atlanta, Ga., were ordered to stop operating passenger service for attempting to evade a previous out-of-service order by operating under a different name

On June 3, FMCSA issued a cease-and-desist order against Sky Express, Inc., of Charlotte, N.C., after finding the company was attempting to operate and sell tickets under a different name, including 108 Tours and 108 Bus.

Haines Tours can operate again if it meets requirements set by the government. It must identify the cause of the issue, develop a plan to ensure it doesn't happen again and must certify to federal officials it will comply with federal rules governing bus tours.

The company's website shows several trips planned for this summer, including outings to Mackinac Island, Bay City, Novi, Detroit, the Upper Peninsula, Battle Creek and Ohio. The tour company didn't immediately respond to a message seeking comment.