Michelle Petuliski describes motor-coach operational conflicts with idling rules
Petuliski of Panorama Tours describes buses overheating, regeneration being interrupted, and summonses arriving months later. She asks the Council to exclude private motor coaches from 11-A and the citizen idling program or at least provide timely enforcement and safeguards.
Thank you, Chairman.
Imagine this.
A motor coach drops off 45 students in New York City on an 86-degree day.
Hours later, the bus is unbearably hot.
Unable to idle long enough to cool it, the driver instead drives the empty 45-foot motor coach around the city with the air conditioning running.
More traffic, more emissions, all to comply with an environmental law.
Now imagine this, a motor coach needs to complete a regen cycle to reduce emissions that started while the bus was in motion.
But New York City's idling restrictions scares the driver into not allowing it to complete and turns the bus off mid-process.
The bus derates and cannot be driven home.
It must be towed and replaced with a motor coach dispatched to pick up the passengers, albeit late.
Imagine this.
A $1,000 idling summons arrives 10 months after an alleged violation.
The driver has completed hundreds of trips since, camera footage has been overwritten, and the company has virtually no way to defend it.
And imagine this, a group returns from a parade on a hot day.
The driver followed New York City's idling restrictions and didn't run the bus.
The result, a threat of a one-star Google review criticizing the company for, and I quote, not even caring enough to cool down the bus for the passengers.
These aren't hypothetical scenarios.
Every single one of them has happened to my company.
I'm Michelle Petuliski.
I'm president of Panorama Tours, a family-owned, woman-owned, second-generation motor coach company serving New York City for over 30 years.
I'm also the incoming chair for the Greater Northeast Motor Coach Association and an executive board member for the United Motor Coach Association.
Our industry cares deeply about the environment.
We're not here asking for permission to pollute.
We're asking to recognize that there is a difference between unnecessary idling and operational idling.
I urge this committee to exclude private motor coaches from Intro 11A and the broader citizen idling enforcement program.
At a minimum, we need reasonable enforcement timeliness, safeguards against abuse, and fair opportunities to...
Time has expired.
Thank you.
I've written more technological stuff in my written testimony.
Thank you very much.
And I'm available for anything else.
We really appreciate that.
Thank you.
Next witness, Alice.
Alice Mock.
You may begin.
Present.
Jim Whalen, Teamsters.
You may begin.