By Neil Eisenberg
President/CEO
The Bus Co-Op
Sun Valley, Calif.

In previous Bus & Motorcoach News articles about bus brokers, I have deliberately refrained from using specific company or personal names.

My reasoning behind this generally accepted gentleman's agreement was simple: If all parties involved are responsible, the practices mentioned in the articles should keep the disagreement from getting personal or abusive.

While I am steadfast in my beliefs, even in the face of having the non-gentleman from US Coachways personally attack me in his recent editorial with outrageous mistruths (see March 1 Bus & Motorcoach News), I can no longer ignore certain actions on the part of a few brokers that deserve the industries' scrutiny.

As most readers of this newspaper are aware, I am the founder of The Bus Co-Op and the owner of VanGo "The Art of Transportation," both located in Southern California.

I am also the predominate antagonist of bus brokers, and have been extremely vocal when it comes to defending our industry against this disreputable group of what I call "bus bookies." Agree with me or not, this marauding band of self aggrandizing thieves will take a good portion of motorcoach operators down in the years ahead.

Yes, it's true I was left holding the financial bag with USA Bus Charters.

Yes, it's true I have been threatened by their attorney.

Yes, it's true there was an agreement for my company to supply transportation on their behalf.

Yes, it's true USA Bus Charter would have profited well over 100 percent from the price I gave them.

And, yes, it's true I cancelled the services well in advance of the trip because VanGo was never paid for services rendered many months earlier.

And, yes, I invite a USA Bus Charter lawsuit so I can publish their attorney's letter showing how my $2,800 fee somehow turned into their $3,200 loss in revenue, plus attorney's fees.

Yes, I could also go on about my losses with The BusBank but, as we all know, they now have enough problems so I won't kick a dead horse while it's down.

Am I angry towards the above-mentioned companies?

The not-so-surprising answer is of course I am, but not for the reasons mentioned above.

The reason is simple. The bus bookies are scared, scared of me, scared of The Bus Co-Op, scared of you, and the motorcoach industry banding together against them in the form of The Bus Co-Op.

As a result, they will do just about anything to hang onto their internet search-engine positions.

In fact, USA Bus Charter is so concerned it has decided to embed the words "BUSCO-OP" three times in its page-source coding for its Website. This bears repeating in different terms.

USA Bus Charter has stolen its competition's name and embedded it into its Website. In this way, when internet users search the term Bus Co-Op, the USA Bus Charter Website will come up in the search.

This is profoundly unethical, immoral and goes to the boundary of illegality. It is akin to subliminal advertising. Think of it, could my company get away with embedding the names of Coach USA, Coach America or Greyhound into its Website?

Would it be right for the American Bus Association to embed the United Motorcoach Association name into its Website, or visa versa? Of course not, and that is why I now have to become even more vocal against the likes of USA Bus Charter, The BusBank, US Coachways, Metropolitan Shuttle, et al.

This is not a personal fight as some brokers have declared through their actions; this is a fight for survival. And as evidenced by the above, most of the bus bookies are willing to cross any immoral or unethical line to hold onto their obscene profits at your expense, my expense, or The Bus Co-Op's expense.

What USA Bus Charter has done is only the first salvo fired on behalf of the bus bookies. There will be many more undermining efforts to deter the success of the fledgling Bus Co-Op.

I say, come join the already 31 and growing members that account for over 600 motorcoaches. Stand together and reap the financial, unifying and purchasing strength benefits that The Bus Co-Op has to offer. Stand up to all the bullies on our block. Now is the time to join The Bus Co-Op -- www.busco-op.com.