Commercial Passenger Vehicles

A recent border inspection in California and Texas found that 22 percent of the commercial passenger buses and vans entering the United States from Mexico had safety violations, such as steering and brake problems, serious enough to remove the vehicles from service. However, GAO found that no reliable information exists on the overall number of these Mexican-owned vehicles crossing the border or on whether they meet U.S. safety standards. Although the North American Free Trade Agreement opened the U.S.-Mexican border to commercial passenger bus and van service from Mexico, Federal Highway Administration and state personnel have done few safety inspections of these vehicles because their focus is on commercial trucks. GAO concludes that the dearth of safety inspections, coupled with the lack of information on the number and kinds of Mexican-owned commercial passenger vehicles entering the United States, precludes any assessment of whether these vehicles are safe or are being operated safely.

GAO noted that: (1) according to the U.S. Customs Service, there were about 218,000 commercial passenger vehicle crossings from Mexico to the United States, a daily average of 598 crossings, from June 1996 through May 1997, the latest data available; (2) about 85 percent of these crossings occurred at four crossing points, two in California and two in Texas; (3) while Customs records the number of vehicle crossings from Mexico into the United States, many of these vehicles may cross the border several times a day (e.g., airport shuttles) and each crossing is included in Customs' vehicle crossing count; (4) furthermore, Customs does not record the identity of individual vehicles, the type of vehicle (e.g., motor coaches or vans), or whether the vehicle is owned by either a U.S. or Mexican carrier; (5) as a result, no reliable information exists either on the actual number of Mexican-owned commercial passenger vehicles that enter the United States or on how many of each type of vehicle enters the country--information needed to assess the extent to which these vehicles are safe and are operated safely; (6) FHwA and state inspectors have carried out few safety inspections of commercial passenger vehicles entering the United States from Mexico primarily because their emphasis has been on inspecting commercial trucks; (7) FHwA inspectors in Texas and state inspectors in California conducted border safety inspections of 528 commercial passenger vehicles from January through May 1997 out of an estimated 90,000 crossings; (8) about 22 percent of these commercial passenger vehicles were placed out of service for serious safety violations, such as steering or brake problems; (9) FHwA inspectors in California and state inspectors in Texas had not conducted any inspections as of May 1997; and (10) the dearth of safety inspections, coupled with insufficient information on the number and kinds of Mexican-owned commercial passenger vehicles entering the United States, precludes any assessment of whether these commercial passenger vehicles are safe and are being operated safely.