Passenger Transportation - Tourism: Principles, Practices, Philosophies - page 111

tour companies in the United States and Canada. Its members operate charter, tour, regular route,
airport express, special operations, and contract services (commuter, school, transit). Another 2,800
member organizations represent the travel and tourism industry and suppliers of bus products and
services who work in partnership with the North American motorcoach industry. ABA is also home to
the ABA Foundation, a nonpro t organization with an emphasis on scholarships, research, and
continuing education. The American Bus Association's headquarters are located in downtown
Washington, D.C.: 700 13th Street NW, Suite 575, Washington, D.C. 20005-5923; telephone
[phone]; fax [phone]; e-mail [e-mail]; its Web site is www.buses.org .
The United Motorcoach Association (UMA), founded as the United Bus Owners of America in
1971, is a trade association with more than 1,000 motorcoach company members and motorcoach
industry manufacturers, suppliers, and vendors spread across North America. UMA member
companies provide a broad variety of charter motorcoach services. Other member services include
tours, schools, intercity transit, and shuttle or commuter lines. UMA serves the informational,
legislative, regulatory, and business needs of its member companies. Within the membership,
companies range from one and two vehicles to those with many hundreds of coaches, from small
tour-speci c companies to those performing intercity route service, charter operations, and tour
operations on a coast-to-coast scale.
UMA sof ces are located at 113 S. West Street, Alexandria, VA 22314-2824; telephone (800) 424-

8262 or [phone]; e-mail [e-mail]; Web site www.uma.org .

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THE AUTOMOBILE

Most of the travel in the world takes place in the automobile . In the United States, auto travel is an
integral part of the travel industry with the vast majority—79 percent—of U.S. domestic person-trips
taken by car, truck, camper/recreation vehicle, or rental car. Affordability, flexibility, convenience, and
personal control make auto travel the most popular mode of transportation all over the world.
Because passenger car registrations continue to increase worldwide, motor vehicles will continue to be
the dominant mode of transportation for decades to come.
All studies show the automobile is dominance, whether the study is from the Air Transport

Association, the Highway Administration, the Census Bureau, or U.S. Travel Association

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s research
department. There is no doubt that the great bulk of intercity transportation of passengers is by
automobile. Data also indicate that this has been constant for several decades. However, because of
the great dominance of the automobile in travel, even a small shift in automobile travel to the
common carriers can result in enormous increases in the carriers

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business.
The interstate highway system signi cantly encouraged vacation travel and especially encour-
aged long-distance travel. It made automobile travel much faster and more comfortable. A major
concern of tourism groups today is the maintenance of the highway network. There is growing
evidence that the highway system is in need of substantial repair to prevent it from suffering
further deterioration. A poor road system costs the individual driver, the bus operator, and other
users additional funds in terms of increased fuel use and vehicle maintenance, and the knowledge
that a highway is in poor condition may cause travelers to select another destination to avoid
the problem.
On the whole, people's attitudes are very favorable toward travel by automobile. The key
feature of the automobile is immediate accessibility and convenience. The automobile owner can
leave from his or her own doorstep at any hour of the day or night and travel to a chosen
destination. When two or more persons travel by automobile, the per-person cost of travel is more
favorable than it is with the other transportation modes. Air is the primary competitor to the
automobile when it comes to travel, especially for long trips. Travelers must weigh the advantages
of air travel

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— the quality of service, speed, and comfort — against the automobile ' sadvantagesof

price and accessibility.