Audit: Safety inspections neglected on buses, limos

Friday, Jan. 7, 2005 | 9:25 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The state Transportation Services Authority failed to ensure that safety inspections were conducted on limousines and buses in Nevada and on taxicabs outside of Clark County in 2003, a legislative audit said Thursday.

Deputy Legislative Auditor Dennis Klenczar said "vehicle safety inspections were not performed as required, oversight of carrier operations was not adequate and methods to help protect consumers were not fully implemented."

Klenczar, in a report to the Legislative Audit Committee, said there was a 55 percent turnover in the enforcement staff and the officers were not spending enough on patrol and enforcement activities.

The TSA, in its response to the audit, said it has done a complete reorganization of the agency to address the concerns in late 2003. And many of the findings of the audit have been corrected, the agency said.

Bruce Breslow, one of the three members of the authority, said that 98 percent of the staff has left since the audit. He said these safety inspections were performed but never recorded so the auditors could not verify they were done.

Klenczar said it reviewed the records for 68 limousines and taxicabs and could not find any records that 85 percent of them had safety inspections.

There were no records of safety inspections on 23 of the 30 new vehicles placed in service in 2003.

"When vehicles are not inspected before they are placed in service, there is an increased risk they do not meet safety and other requirements established by the TSA," the audit said.

There were no records of safety inspection of 20 bus companies.

The TSA did not monitor companies to ensure they were financially stable, said the audit. The auditors reviewed the reports of 20 companies and nine of them did not meet the financial test.

The agency, created in 1997, is supported from the highway fund and from fees paid by the company. The taxicab industry is regulated by the Nevada Taxicab Authority in Clark County. But the TSA has authority over taxicabs in the rest of the state.

Assemblyman John Marvel, R-Battle Mountain, and chairman of the audit committee, suggested the fees might be raised so that the highway funds could "be used to fill potholes."

The TSA has 290 companies under its jurisdiction and it is responsible for regulating 1,229 limousines, 356 taxicabs that are mostly in Washoe County, 675 tow cars and an unspecified number of charter buses and household goods movers.

A spokesman for the TSA said that inspections now are done by certified mechanics from the regulated companies or they hire independent contractors and the TSA then verifies the inspections.

Marvel asked if vehicles operate without insurance. But the TSA maintains it issues a cease and desist order the day that vehicle insurance expires and is not renewed.