Audit finds Nevada agency lax on bus, taxi, limo inspections

The state Transportation Services Authority failed to properly oversee safety inspections on limousines and buses in Nevada and on taxicabs outside of Clark County in 2003, a legislative audit 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," said Dennis Klenczar, said deputy legislative auditor.

In a scathing report to the Legislative Audit Committee, auditors reported Thursday they could find no safety inspection records for 20 Nevada bus companies.

Klenczar said auditors checked 68 limousines and taxicabs and could not find records of safety inspections for 85 percent. There also were no records of safety inspections on 23 of the 30 new vehicles placed in service in 2003.

Bruce Breslow, a member of the three-member authority, said safety inspections were performed but never recorded. He said 98 percent of authority staff had left since the audit.

A spokesman for the authority said inspections now are done by company mechanics or independent contractors hired by the companies, and the authority verifies the inspections.

The audit warned that uninspected vehicles posed "an increased risk they do not meet safety and other requirements."

The authority was also lax in monitoring companies to ensure they were financially stable, the audit said. It found nine of 20 companies it reviewed did not meet financial test.

The Transportation Services Authority, created in 1997, has jurisdiction over 290 companies, 1,229 limousines and 356 taxicabs, mostly in Washoe County. It also oversees 675 tow cars and an unspecified number of charter buses and household goods movers.

It is funded by highway funds and fees paid by companies.

The taxicab industry in Clark County is regulated by the Nevada Taxicab Authority.