jan-2018

234 235 same over the years,Pantuso says that the industry changed dramatically several decades ago,when it was deregulated by the federal government.“Back in the early‘80s,the industrywas regulated in terms of where you could operate,”he explains.“If youwanted to put a bus into service betweenNewYorkandWash- ington,D.C.,for example,you had to get approval from the Interstate Commerce Commission to be able to run that route; the same thing in routes all over the coun- try.And then,deregulation came about,which said, ‘you can gowherever youwant to go.’There are still regulations on the industry,but not in terms of where it could operate.So,the industryexpanded; it was a lot easier to come into themotor coach business and run services wherever youwanted to.Today,wemove a lot more people thanwe did back in 1926; we provide about 600million passenger trips,annually. Amtrak does under 40million,and the airlines are some- where in the 700s.So,we’re a little bit smaller than the airlines as an industry,and a lot bigger,in terms of the THE AMERICAN BUS ASSOCIATION number of peoplewemove,thanAmtrak.” ThemodernABAhas amembership of approximately800 pri- vate bus companies out of a universe of about 3,200 in the U.S.and Canada.“Those 800 companies represent about 65 percent of all the private buses or motor coaches on the road,”says Pantuso.“And our membership on the bus side is verydiverse; we’ve got companies that havemore than a thousand buses andwe’ve got companies that have one bus.Beyond the bus side,we also have tour operators who plan and execute trips and tours.We’ve got about 250 of them.” ABA’s largest segment is its travel industrymembers–some 2,500 AT A GLANCE THE AMERICAN BUS ASSOCIATION WHAT: A non-profit trade association serving the North American motor coach industry WHERE: Washington, D.C. WEBSITE: www.buses.org