Questions Rise About Bus Company In Morehouse Crash

ATLANTA -- There's new information about the bus crash that hurt 13 members of the Morehouse College Marching Band over the weekend. On Monday, the state of Georgia told 11Alive News that the company that operated the bus was doing so illegally -- without a license.

Late Saturday morning, a bus carrying members of the band to a football game in downstate Albany overturned on I-75 in Henry County.

While the investigation into the crash continues, Georgia's Public Service Commission wants to know why a bus operated by Superior Transportation was on the road at all.

"They had no authority to operate inside the state of Georgia whatsoever until they received a certificate and were properly approved by the commission," said the PSC's Bill Edge. "That had not happened."

According to the PSC, a consumer called in late 2008, wanting to know why Superior was not listed on the PSC Web site as a licensed carrier.

That prompted a letter from the state, ordering Superior to cease and desist as a charter bus company in Georgia until they had proper licensing.

Superior was placed on the PSC's Web site as an illegal bus carrier -- and that's where they were still listed at the time of Saturday's crash.

"Without having a certificate, they're operating illegally -- and the public has no assurance that they have insurance or have a safety inspection or have a background check," Edge said.

Morehouse insists Superior is not the company they hired to transport the band. In a written statement., a spokesperson says the college, "Hired Adventure Bus Charter," to transport the students. The statement continued, saying, "We are conducting an internal investigation to determine how Superior Transportation Group was involved."

At Superior's company headquarters in northwest Atlanta, 11Alive's Jerry Carnes found a locked gate, and a sign that reads, "Safety is no accident."

Carnes left messages Monday afternoon for the owner of Superior Transportation, but by Monday evening, those messages had yet to be returned. Carnes said he also contacted Adventure Bus Charter's offices in Alabama, to find out why the Morehouse band was not aboard their buses if they were the company initially hired by the school. Those messages also had not been returned by Monday evening.

Meanwhile, the PSC is investigating, and says Superior could face heavy fines -- possibly in the neighborhood of hundreds of thousands of dollars.