NYC tour bus firms agree to $7.5 million anti-trust settlement

[March 17, 2015]  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two New York City tour bus companies have agreed to pay $7.5 million and forfeit about 50 stops, including highly prized locations in Manhattan, to settle an anti-trust lawsuit brought by state and federal prosecutors, officials said on Monday.

Coach USA Inc, City Sights LLC and their joint venture, Twin America LLC, which was created by the two former rivals in 2009, were accused of monopolizing the market, the U.S. Justice Department and New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement.

The two companies accounted for virtually all of the hop-on, hop-off bus business in the city prior to 2009 and were able to boost ticket prices some 10 percent and block smaller operators from being competitive, the statement said.

"The largest operators of New York City's iconic double-decker tour buses were able to raise prices and deprive city visitors of the benefits of a free and fair market," Schneiderman said in the statement.

The settlement figure is in addition to the $19 million reached last May to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by riders who argued that they were overcharged.

Coach USA and City Sights both run open-topped, double-decker buses that ferry tourists around the city, but will have to give up stops at Times Square, the Empire State Building and elsewhere under the settlement, the statement said.

"We are pleased at the continuing progress toward an agreed settlement," Sean Hughes, associate director of corporate affairs for Coach USA, told the New York Times.

The settlement must now be approved in federal court in Manhattan, according to the statement.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond; Writing by Curtis Skinner; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)

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