Local bus companies say they face 'borderline harassment' in NYC over migrant crackdown

Bob Brisman, president of New Windsor, New York-based West Point Tours, has provided charter bus service to New York City since 1994 for college trips, school field trips, plus civic and senior groups. He said he's never received an NYPD inspection in that time.

But earlier this week, an NYPD inspector boarded his bus and issued one of his operators a criminal citation for "excessive exhaust from the engine" and other reasons illegibly scribbled on the ticket, Brisman said. The bus, he said, received a clean inspection by the New York State Department of Transportation within the last five months.

Now, he will have to make a New York City court appearance and potentially pay a steep fine. Brisman, whose small bus company sends about 10 buses a week to the city, decided he will temporarily suspend service to New York City to avoid the harassment.

"We can’t afford to receive citations just for going into New York City," Brisman said. "We are inspected regularly by the New York State Department of Transportation, we have a clean safety record and (now) we have a citation that I can’t even read because it was so poorly written."

Brisman is not alone. Other bus companies from New Jersey and Pennsylvania said they have also had similar encounters with law enforcement this week.

It all comes back to a state of emergency declared by New York City Mayor Eric Adams last week related to the busloads of migrants sent from Texas and Florida. Republican-run states began sending migrants to Democratic-led states to draw attention to the costly support services required to house and assist asylum-seekers.

Adams began cracking down on buses with the inspections and citations to deter bus companies from coming to New York with asylum-seekers. But, according to local operators, they are the ones being unintentionally targeted.

Adams' office did not answer emailed questions, but referred a reporter to a press conference held on the topic last week.

More:NYC Mayor Eric Adams declares state of emergency to address migrant influx

Buses cited for minor offenses

"They should stop sending buses to New York," Adams said. "New York cannot accommodate the number of buses that we have coming here to our city."

When pressed on buses that were getting ticketed, he said, "We’re not going to talk on any specific bus operation but we are going to make sure that the asylum-seekers and people on our roads are safe, and so the New York Police Department and whatever entity is being used. I’m hoping they are out there doing their job correctly."

Michelle Petelicki, president and partner of Wallington, New Jersey-based Panorama Tours, Inc., said two of her buses were stopped in New York City on Tuesday. While neither were carrying passengers at the time, she said one was inspected for an hour and the other for an hour and twenty minutes, significantly delaying the service her small company provides for private charters, commuters, tourists seeing a Broadway show or other sites.

She said she was ticketed because a bus driver was not wearing his reading glasses at the time of the inspection, while others were because specific emergency exit instructions were not visible at exits.

"I am now in the process of trying to figure all of this out and how to move forward," she said, "and whether I do want to continue bringing people into the city and dealing with this borderline harassment."

Tom JeBran, president of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania-based Trans-Bridge Lines, said since 1982 the company has had daily service to New York City and never gotten flagged for criminal citations. New York DOT inspected the buses last week and they passed, but when the New York Police Department boarded buses, they got written up for infractions JeBran said he has never heard of.

One was not having a second New York City sticker, another for having a small chip on the windshield on the passenger side and a third for "audible air sound" after a police officer had the driver perform a brake test by holding the brake down for 15 minutes. That, according to JeBran, is not how a brake test is normally performed.

"I don’t believe we are in violation of federal DOT rules or even in New York rules, so we have to go to court and prove our case in court against criminal citations which is difficult, but we have to hire an attorney and go to court," JeBran said.

Asked if he would consider halting trips to New York City, he said no because he couldn't do that to the commuters who have just started returning to work using his service.

Pattie Cowley, executive director of the Greater New Jersey Motorcoach Association, said she understood the mayor's intention, but said it is having adverse effects on the wrong people and companies.

"The mayor did what he had to do … but then members kept calling me and saying, 'So, we’re getting stopped in New York,' and it’s every bus that’s going in," she said. "This is costing so much money between time and the minor infractions and, of course, they have to go to court because it’s criminal stuff."

Dan Rodriguez, who works for Paramus, New Jersey-based Coach USA and is president of the Bus Association of New Jersey, said he has been in contact with Adams' office to set up a meeting to discuss the issue.

"We have an obligation to NJ Transit to get commuters into the city and if we get penalized, if they’re not there by a certain time, or things slow down, that would be an encumbrance if we have to go through a whole process unnecessarily," Rodriguez said. He was referring to some contracted routes Coach operates for the agency to New York City, in addition to private charters and Megabus service.

"That’s the concern for a lot of us," he said.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NYC migrants crisis, crackdown affecting NJ bus companies