BISC Executive Committee Meeting Minutes Mon. June 22, 2015 BWI Airport Marriott 9:00 am, Salon F Attendees: Chairman Stephen Evans, Pacific Western Group of Companies Vice-Chairman Al Smith, Greyhound Lines Secretary Dan Tomlinson, Indian Trails Government Review Committee Chairman Mike Horak, Academy Bus Lines Vice Chairman- William Norris, Jefferson Lines Human Performance Committee Chairman Mike Ferianc, Coach USA Vice Chairman- Rick Vaillancourt, Cyr Bus Line Security Committee Chairman Lynette McMillan, Greyhound Vice Chairman- Liliana Aguilar, Omnibus Express Vehicle Technical Operations Committee Vice-Chairman-Jeffrey Gilchrest, Prevost Workplace Health and Environment Safety Committee Chairman Pam Martinez, DATTCO Vice Chairman-Dan Becher, Riteway Transportation At Large Member Charles Corder, Coach USA At Large Member- Chris Crean, Peter Pan Lines Coach Builder Supplier Member Louis Hotard, ABC Companies ABA Board Representative- Alan Glickman, Starr Bus Charter & Tours Insurance Supplier Member Bob Crescenzo, Lancer Insurance BISC Executive Director Brandon Buchanan, ABA Suzanne Te Beau Rohde- ABA Vice President of Government Affairs Matthew Cahill-ABA Dan Ronan-ABA Peter Pantuso-ABA Joe Delorenzo-FMCSA Government Representative for Loretta Bitner
Not Present: Vehicle Technical Operations Committee Chairman-John Oakman, Coach USA Immediate Past Chairman Mike McDonal- Eyre Bus Tour and Travel Non-Builder Supplier Representative- Matthew Daecher, Daecher Consulting Group Inc. June Meeting Action Items Responsible: Action Item: Date Added Executive Framework for a resource center on BISC website May 08/15 Committee -In progress Louis Hotard New Bus Purchase Handout Resolved -1 st draft is prepared. Brandon is going to hand this off to ABA Communications people for graphics portion Executive Framework for a resource center on BISC website May 5/15 Committee -In Progress Executive Committee Determine what may be needed in order for Operators to have a larger influence in the RFP process as requested by ABA Board --Awaiting further discussion and possible assignment to one Brandon Buchanan or more Committees Add the Action Items Request List to Committee pages on the website. -Brandon will look in to getting this done. July 08/15 - Welcome and roll call -9:02, introduced Joe Delorenzo in place of Loretta -introduced Suzanne and welcomed her to BISC. She has taken Clyde s place as of April 1st - Anti-Trust Statement -Suzanne Te Beau Rohde - Review/approve prior minutes -Pam commented that Dan Becher was in attendance. (Vice-Chair, workplace) Al made motion to approve. Motion carried - Prior action items follow up o New Member Welcome/Survey
-Charlie commented that it would be nice to know what company new people are from and also whether or not they are coming back. -Chris mentioned that he and Charlie will get with new people. -Brandon talked about a new 8 part survey that will go to new people as they attend BISC. There will be both a pre and post meeting survey. -Al Smith commented that this is a good idea as he knows of prior new members who were lost in the shuffle after the meeting. Alan Glickman inquired as to a new member orientation and Stephen mentioned that it is difficult sometimes due to room issues. Al Smith mentioned that CVSA does something similar to this at their meetings. These new members will be contacted by Chris and Charlie. -Committee reviewed the survey for approval. -Louis asked for new member other industry association affiliations to be added. Brandon to take care of -Mike Horak made a motion and the Committee approved moving forward with the New Member Survey with the changes made. o New Bus Purchase Handout -Louis has a 1 st draft prepared. Stephen suggests that we have someone from ABA staff work on this to get a more experienced person working on the graphics portion. Brandon is going to hand this off to the communications people from ABA. It may be something similar to the CYTA project. Idea is that this will be available to anyone buying a new bus. - 2015 Summer Meeting o Review and Update -Stephen reviewed concerns from last winter meeting Executive Committee debrief: Schedule changes-dealing with venues can be very difficult BISC website not up to date-dan Ronan mentioned that the website changes should be complete by August 8 th. Alan Glickman mentioned that BISC should have its own section on the website. Not enough time in committee meetings Marketplace floor too loud Evaluation forms not easy enough to fill out Should we repeat some sessions so that people do not miss
Identification for first-time attendees Reach out to some of the vendors to become BISC members Work with ABA to organize a safety-lane on floor Summer meeting to be used more for work o Schedule Adjustment -No major changes for Summer Meeting other than some rooms changes -Added a session to Tuesday (Hours of Service Research) 9:00. Split session with Accident Reconstruction which will begin at 8:00 -Now have (3) sessions in the afternoon -Pam asked how someone may know what issues will actually be discussed at the topical sessions. Need to get more detail to attendees. Beginning with this meeting, each of the committee chairs will take some time at the Opening General Session to discuss topics. Moving forward, a copy of the committee agendas or a link to the minutes could be added to the packets given at the BISC meeting. Stephen asked if the links to the committee agendas are being used. Some may be using it, but early registrants may not be going back as this information may not have been available at the time that they registered. We need to make sure that the website is clean and up to date as we are trying to move closer to using it for more information. Need to get agendas in earlier if possible for this to be a success. -There will be no debrief session as the hotel did not have space available to accommodate for this. -Louis inquired about Monday/Tuesday meetings. Easier to have Tuesday thru Thursday meetings than Monday thru Wednesday. Brandon will try to make this happen. -Stephen asked chairs to come ready to closing session with a review of items discussed during their committee meetings. - 2016 Winter Meeting o Expand on proposed theme and potential topics/speakers -(Stephen)Training and Technology as themes. Both items have been in the news recently. Have the template laid out for the meeting schedule so now we can begin to fill in the gaps. We will discuss this at the next conference call. o Registrations
-Stephen mentioned that there is some confusion in registration. Brandon mentioned that you can register online directly for BISC now if you are an ABA member as well as in paper form. Registration is now open. Housing will open on September 9 th. 5 MINUTE BREAK - Standing Committee Review o Current list of projects -Stephen mentioned that original feedback from owners was that there was not much being brought back from meetings. He then handed out a workflow of BISC. Stephen believes that our Committee structure is one of the big things that we have going for us. Hopes that as the committees work even better, members will get more takeaways from them and hopefully make our membership grow as well. Stephen asked that we keep mind that we have goals to make sure that all members end up with take-a-ways in addition to just the information and social networking. o Expectation of work output and time frame -3 types 1. FYI 2. Produce takeaways for members 3. Be more proactive in providing feedback o Make assignments from request list -Stephen would like to reinstitute the Assignment Request to hopefully provide some framework for taking on a request within the committees. He then handed out a new form for the Executive Committee to look at. Asked for feedback: 1. Al Smith asked for clarification as to how to get something to be looked at by the Executive Committee. Stephen to get that added to this request list. 2. Pam Martinez asked if there was a way to have this put on the new website. She thought that it may help some members who feel like they do not have a voice get a chance to get involved. Brandon mentioned that this is already on the website but is not
used much and also mentioned that it may be put on each committee s page. 3. Suzanne mentioned that maybe we should refresh the membership as to the use of the website as the new one is completed. 4. Alan Glickman asked if it is possible for others to be involved in the creation of the website. Dan Ronan mentioned that when it comes to the content, that is a possibility. The design is pretty much done. Stephen suggests that concerns regarding the website should be directed to Brandon. 5. Pam asked if we are doing any analytics as to who is actually going to the BISC portion of the website. There needs to be more education on getting people to the website. Dan Ronan mentioned that there are about 12 to 20,000 people coming to the website per month. He will check in to how many are going to the BISC section. Stephen reviewed a couple of requests for assignment. 1. Beyond Compliance -FMCSA is looking at the possibility of providing some type of incentive for companies that may be going above the required limit of compliance. Suzanne mentioned that ABA put together a response of hopeful optimism for this type of program. Stephen asked if we should start looking at this in one of the committees. Suzanne mentioned that we should always be prepared to take these things on voluntarily. She believes that there is some real value and benefit in pursuing some voluntary work on this subject. Joe Delorenzo mentioned that this is not a regulatory notice. The idea may be to see what everybody says prior to coming out with a proposal. The big issue here may be what is everybody s role in a voluntary compliance type of programs. Alan Glickman mentioned that the reference to SMS scores has certainly drawn extra attention. Joe mentioned that there is going to be continued discussion as to just how to use this type of program as it relates to SMS scores. Louis mentioned that from a manufacturer side, it is a slippery slope. NHTSA defines very minimal guidelines which are very difficult to
meet. Asked that things that affect how the coach is built, there may be more things to consider about the ramifications of these types of programs. Stephen suggests that it may be a bit premature for us to assign this to a committee. Suzanne agrees. Mike Horak mentioned that there will be a discussion at the Government Activity Review Committee at this meeting. 2. Confusion around the FMCSA website- 3. Replicating the project like CYTA- 4. Having some influence with the RFP process- 5. The new lease agreement-on GARC agenda already. Others will be kept on the back burner and will be addressed as current projects are completed. - BusMARC -Stephen participated in a call a few days ago. Notion is to try and attract the Shop Manager as this group does not have a comfortable place at BISC. This is an ABA group. Mike McDonal is the current chair of BusMARC. Stephen was originally concerned that this new group may take away in some form from the BISC but has been recently reassured that there is a very large part in the safety process and there will be quite a few differences in the type of material vs our VTOC committee. Should be a complimentary council to the BISC and should be helpful. Jeff Gilchrest mentioned that the VTOC committee is looking to determine what issues should go to each of these groups and that these two committees should work somewhat closely together. Al Smith asked that the Executive Committee get a report from the BusMARC meetings. Brandon mentioned that the BusMARC group has come together on their curriculum and should be out shortly. Their meetings have been designed to mirror the same type of format as the BISC meetings. Stephen mentioned that the Executive Committee was left out of this and hopes that in the future, we may be better informed when a group with such close ties to BISC is formed. Louis asked how to launch BusMARC. Brandon says that it has already been done and that it will be co-promoted with the BISC information. Norm Littler Safety Award -Stephen mentioned that we want to continue to recognize the people who exemplify what Norm stood for. It is not an annual award, should it be. We
do not want it to get lost in the shuffle, nor do we want it to become artificial. Al Smith mentioned that at least early on, we should do it yearly. Bob Crescenzo mentioned that there could be a yearly evaluation to determine whether or not to give it out annually based on whether there is someone who deserves to receive it. At least should be discussed annually. Chris Crean mentioned that he would like to see it continue as an annual award as he believes that was the original intent. This information will be addressed to the BISC at the general opening session. Al would like to see what the award looks like. It was given to Pam Martinez to give to Pete Worthington as he was not in attendance to receive it. Stephen mentioned that during the opening session, he will mention the award and then present it at that time formally. - Schedule next call -Wednesday, July 8 th at 10.00 EST. -Stephen acknowledged the sponsors. - Adjourn -11:04 Dan Becher. Approved.