Timely Updates to Motorcoach Security Procedures
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) have recently sent out a security bulletin warning of the possibility of hostile acts domestically, given recent world events. Consider upgrading your security posture by implementing some of the following physical security measures:
Pre-Trip Security Check
- Inspect luggage bays pre-trip and then lock if possible.
- Walk the bus’s interior from back to front (including the lavatory) and make sure nothing has been left on the bus.
- Check all overhead compartments, bins, and racks.
- Inspect all fuel and fluid inputs for tampering.
- Re-inspect your bus completely if you leave the bus unoccupied for a period of time.
Vigilance & Planning During Driving Operations
- Be familiar with your emergency equipment: GPS panic button and Call Police destination signs.
- Review your company’s Duress words, if available.
- Establish an egress or evacuation plan for alternate routing or a passenger rally point.
- If a terrorist attack occurs around your bus, pay attention to text messages on your phone or GPS for instructions on where to go. If you cannot contact dispatch, go to a safe place, secure the bus, and then contact management via regular phone or by e-mail. Consider bringing along a portable radio to listen for emergency updates.
Suspicious Packages
- Announce to all passengers to take all packages/baggage, and if they see anyone depart the bus and leave something behind, to notify you immediately.
- If a bag is left behind and it is in an unusual location, has unusual smells, is leaking fluid, has unusual shapes or wires, or you just feel it is suspicious for any reason, call 911 immediately. NOTE that when calling 911, walk at least three bus lengths away from the suspicious package.
Facility Security
- If you don’t know someone and they have no uniform or badge, observe them from a distance, get a good description. Call 911 if they do something suspicious to a bus or around the facility.
- If you see any broken locks or cut fences, notify management immediately.
Above all, be vigilant. Observe what is happening around you; keep checking your bus and call 911 if you encounter an emergency. Call the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) at (844) TSA-FRST or (844) 872-3778 and your dispatcher if you observe anything suspicious and want to report it.
For additional free resources and training materials, visit – https://www.tsa.gov/for-industry/firstobserver. TSA will conduct a vehicle ramming exercise and an intelligence briefing at the upcoming BISC Summer Meeting in Minneapolis, MN, August 19-21, 2025. Click here to register.
You can join the Surface Information Sharing Cell (SISC) by emailing [email protected] for additional intelligence information. We would also reference all operators to check out the May alert on heightened vigilance. As there is increased risk for cybersecurity attacks, please visit here for a cybersecurity toolkit.
Join TSA for a special intelligence briefing and industry update on June 25 @ 1 pm ET.
