Tour Bus Operator Stashes Extra Passengers In Luggage Compartment

June 12, 2011 2:24 PM

Bus passengers near luggage storage area. (File photo Getty Images)

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GLADWIN (WWJ) - UPDATE TO STORY

When a tour bus operator found he had more passengers than seats, he put six people in the luggage compartment with mattresses and pillows.

Now the Michigan company has been ordered to cease commercial bus operations after the discovery during a trip to Ohio.

The order against Haines Tours of Gladwin was issued Friday by the U.S. Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

An Ohio State Patrol officer found six people May 27 in the luggage compartment of a bus traveling from Michigan to Clyde, Ohio. Mattresses and pillows were in the luggage area.

It is reported that the driver told the officer there was no room on the bus for more passengers.

Tour Bus Operator Stashes Extra Passengers In Luggage Compartment

mcnertny

Was this a tour from mexico?

Kristyn

India

2late2matter

Dunno, but I rode in the Guatemalan “chicken buses” which probably weren’t much less uncomfortable.
Tula May

Grr. in India they would be on the roof also..ruff

ZinZanMan

I LOVE IT! I am one of 10 kids and we all used to pile in my parents Bel Air station-wagon. My dad said he could tell if he left a kid somewhere by how hard we bottomed out over every bump in the road.

I love this guy, he may be my long lost uncle.

BG

R. Ronaldo

What’s the problem? If people agreed to it of their own free will, lt them travel in the luggage compartment.

We should get used to this since the country is headed to third world status, this may be the only way some will be able to travel. But, I would refuse to share my space with a chicken as 2late2matter posted.

Katykay

Bet the mattresses had bed bugs…..what movie did they watch down there?
Jimmy

did anyone ever see the luggage compartment of a tour bus??? To say that people would be cramped would be a huge understatement!
Ed Liebel

can tell you greyhound is no better in over packing passengers… i had to stand from nashville all the way to dayton Ohio.. called dallas told them of the mess they said well here’s a 30 buck discount … told them what for i will never use them again

Brian Colaruso

Thank goodness this company doesn’t run an airline!

Cas

It’s called American Airlines !
Alvar the Fool

I’ll take a cargo “seat” if the price is right!

Paul E. Ester

Thirdworldization of america continues. I suspect they’ll be riding on the roof next just like India.

Roland Stiles

We are a third world country. US Is in Even Worse Shape Financially Than Greece: http://www.cnbc.com/id/43378973

S.holler

If someone is dumb enough to get in the luggage department, they deserve whatever they get.

Jeigh

Agreed!
wordpolice

dumb enough to call it a luggage department
proudnot2bliberal

I agree 200%! 1st thing I said when I read this WTH really? Now im just saying but the 6 had to be mexican or of another 3 or 4th world economy.

maggiesmomma

Just to set the record straight…I was on this particular bus as a paying customer. The people riding under the bus were the driver’s family. They are American citizens. The driver was simply taking his family to Cedar Point along with the rest of us.

Pat

Awesome. I want to know how he broke the news to the “passengers”. Was it something they embraced or agreed to with some reluctance. Carbon monoxide vs ability to go rifling through peoples’ bags vs collision risk vs…

Did he provide lighting? Bathroom breaks? Any gambling or prostitution going on in the belly of the bus? So many questions unanswered by this article!!
Rikki Tikki

Must not be too uncommon if he had matresses and pillows on hand.

Riki Tiki

You spelled my name wrong.

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi

Let me officially set the record straight.

William Carter

It’s common practice in Mexico for the “relief” driver to ride (and sleep) in the luggage compartment. Not bad digs, actually, if you want to stretch out and sleep for a while.

Carbon monoxide aside, I don’t know if the luggage compartment is any more dangerous than the passenger compartment in an accident. Seat belt use is not required “upstairs”. Mattresses and pillows may actually provide superior protection.

Berry Henson

Well, by your opinion maybe the bus companies should charge extra for luggage compartment accomodations. “Sleeper compartments”, as it were. The truth here is that commercial transportation operators, including freight haulers, operate as close to the line of illegality as they can. Many times they go over the line. The drivers often times eschew good common sense safety practices for the purpose of making as much money as they can. It’s possible that this driver could have come up with this on his own, but I tend to think that he was ordered to do this by his superiors. The driver did not have the sense to know that he is not required to do anything illegal when ordered to do so by his boss. He cannot be punished for doing ther right thing. The fact that there were mattresses available in the luggage compartment makes me think this was anticipated. The company should be shutdown.

A commercial driver with a brain…

Alx1775

Of course the driver can be punished for refusing to do something illegal.

All the company has to do is come up with some pretext – say, a safety violation. There are probably plenty of those already on this bus line – and the driver is terminated. Play ball, do what the company says, or walk.

This isn’t how it *should* be, but how it is.

The Comet

Where injuries come from is the sudden decelaration. That is why seatbelts save lives because you decelarate with the vehicle. When you don’t have one it is the sudden stop into the object in front that does the damage. That is why race car drivers have the 4-point harness, and they now strap the heads to the headrest. So the body decelarates with the vehicle.

Rikki Tikki

It’s not the fall that kills you, it’s the sudden stop at the bottom.

JJ

Well, gotta hand it to the guy for sheer improvisational skills.
Error

This is the Third World’s version of “We need a couple passengers to move to the back of the plane for weight and balance reasons…”

Alvar the Fool

Dude we are 3rd world, most of us dont know it yet….

Jason

Maybe this guy gets a per passenger commission. One can’t blame someone for trying to make an extra buck.

Michael

Exactly. Can’t blame someone for not paying their taxes. Can’t blame someone for ripping off a customer. Can’t blame someone for selling illegal substances. Can’t blame someone for doing quick work with uncertified parts. Just trying to make an extra-buck.

http://emsblogs.com/tooldtowork/2011/06/not-the-best-way-to-improve-the-bottom-line-part-iii/ Not The Best Way To Improve The Bottom Line, Part III | Too Old To Work, Too Young To Retire

[...] Tour Bus Operator Stashes Extra Passengers In Luggage Compartment GLADWIN (WWJ) – When a tour bus operator found he had more passengers than seats, he put six people in the luggage compartment with mattresses and pillows. [...]
Rhett1

That bus had to be from Detroit!

Cas

Was it full of ACORN voters going across atate lines again ?

ZMEEKER

HA HA! Hank Warren is dumb.
C3po

Obviously there was a whistle blower on the bus how else did the state trooper have the reason to stop the bus …no mention of probable cause for the traffic stop.

maggiesmomma

The whistle blower was a worker at the truck stop. I was on the bus.

Atlas Shrugged

I guess there was not enough room on the roof next to the chicken coops.

New class of ridership, BAGGAGE.
Cameron

And the photo which accompanies this story not only has nothing to do with it; the photo is not even from this country.

You should be ashamed and embarrassed, WWJ.

Lauren

The photo is from this country – that is symbol and name for the “Fung Wah” bus, you can see the “AH” from the end of the name. The bus runs out of Chinatown in at least NYC and Boston, and I’m sure other places in the US.

http://www.stormfront.org/forum/t808607/#post9302857 Detroit: Tour Bus Operator Stashes Extra Passengers In Luggage Compartment – Stormfront

[...] [...]
Obama Load

Typical in Mexico. With Obama our third world present-dent importing mexicans by the bus load it all makes sense.
Egomet Bonmot

Where in the flying pink Jesus did this guy find an entire busload of people who wanted to take a tour from •Detroit• to •Ohio•???

wampum

not Detroit. Gladwin, which is waaaaay north of Detroit. I don’t know how Gladwin, MI to Clyde, Oh is such a popular route. There is nothing in either of those towns.

Obama Bin Lyin

Did Obama throw them under the bus? Usual method for Obama Bin Lyin.
Bill

These dope paranoiacs who show up here turning everything into an Obama story really have to get a life.

King Zahorik of Prague IV

Just plain “Bill”. Live long and SUCK it!
Lou

yeah, we all know it was Bush’s fault

Wix Zee

lol, gotta love those silly Mexicans.

complete-privacy.no.tc

Mauna

When you have almost 2 million of them in your city getting free schooling, free healthcare thru medicaid, welfare, food stamps, you get to dislike them very much. They will take anything that is not nailed down, and some times will take the nails out.

jackie Davis

In response to Mauna comment, you must be making reference to your people. Stereotyping of one’s race is not base on facts but shows a persons ignorance.

Carl Z.

Wouldn’t this be a great Seinfeld episode? Like the one where all the businessmen slept in the drawers in Kramer’s apartment. Awright……
Mongo Aurelio

Benny Hills Tours did this decades ago…