Double Happyness Travel, Inc., of Huntingdon Valley, Pa.,was ordered to immediately cease all intrastate and interstate passenger service by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).
The agency declaried the carrier an “imminent hazard” to public safety. This order follows an extensive review of the company’s operations, which found multiple hours-of-service, vehicle maintenance, and controlled substance and alcohol testing violations, DOT said.
Double Happyness Travel was shut down after FMCSA safety investigators found the company failed to comply with hours-of-service, records of duty and driver qualification requirements.
Double Happyness Travel provided service between New York City and Albany, N.Y.; Baltimore, Md.; and Wilmington, Del.
“FMCSA will continue to do everything within its current legal authority to remove unsafe bus operators like this one from our roadways,” said FMCSA Administrator Anne S. Ferro.
Over the past five years, FMCSA said it has doubled the number of bus inspections and safety reviews of the nation's estimated 4,000 passenger bus companies. Roadside motorcoach inspections have jumped nearly 100 percent, from 12,991 in 2005 to 25,705 in 2010, while compliance reviews are up 128 percent, from 457 in 2005 to 1,042 in 2010.
In addition, FMCSA said it has initiated a greater number of enforcement cases against unsafe passenger carriers under the current administration: from 36 in 2008 to 44 in 2010.
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