Many Travelers Not Deterred by Deadly Bus Crashes
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 - 10:34 PM
Many travelers have remained undeterred from taking Chinatown buses in the wake of two deadly crashes this week involving smaller bus lines.
Fifteen passengers died in a bus crash on Interstate-95 in the Bronx early Saturday. A second accident on the New Jersey Turnpike late Monday night involving a bus leaving from Chinatown for Philadelphia resulted in the death of its driver and a passenger.
On Tuesday, Bruce Johnson arrived on a crowded Fung Wah Bus from Boston to his home in Brooklyn.
"When you live in New York, you learn to take risks," he said.
Johnson said he thinks the Chinatown buses are more dangerous than the Greyhound and Peter Pan bus companies. But despite his concerns, he confessed that he can't beat the cost and convenience.
Chinatown buses to Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., can typically cost $15 for a one-way ticket.
Jenorah Hutchinson also traveled on a Fung Wah bus from Boston on Tuesday. She said she'll continue to take the cheap bus rides, but plans to keep a closer eye on the driver in the wake of the recent accidents. Hutchinson stayed awake for the entire ride so that she could make sure the driver "looked fresh" and was "drinking coffee to stay awake," she said.
Federal data shows that Greyhound and Peter Pan bus companies rate higher than Fung Wah and the bus lines that crashed on at least two criteria: fatigued driving and vehicle maintenance.
Federal safety investigators are expected to interview the driver of a tour bus that crashed, killing 15 people. They are trying to determine whether driver fatigue played a role. They also said they'd interview the driver of that bus Tuesday but had not responded to a request for comment.
Comments [4]
I thank Fung Wah bus for forcing Greyhound and Peter Pan to bring their ridiculous high prices down for the Boston/New York route! Before Fung Wah and Lucky Star, Greyhound charged $45 one way to New York from Boston. Now you can get a ticket for $25 one way if you book in advance sometimes $15! But I still prefer Fung Wah as they have buses on the hour and half hour!
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This accident will cause the USDOT to react much like a teacher that punishes the whole class because on kid misbehaves,,instead of cracking down on these Chinese companies the DOT will lump all of the good operators into their knee jerk reaction of over enforcement of tiney enfractions just like they did in Texas when minority Mexican bus companies failed to follow the rules and caused several elderly passengers to burn alive ,
They WILL NOT spend their limited time and resources to go after the bad guys because thy might be accused odf discrimination so they harass and hound the good guys just to show they are doing something..they KNEW these Chinese operators were thumbing their noses at our USA regulations right from the get go, but did zilch to stop them.so DOT .. this is on your shoulders.. spend your time like the Dodge City Sheriff, go after the bad guys and stop harassing the church goers...
Inter-State public transportation needed desperately some serious competition - GreyHound was a Dirty Disaster - However, as long as these major cities - Boston, Providence, NYC, Baltimore, Washington DC, Philadelphia - do not have minimum standards for all these bus companies, more people shall be injured and killed. These are hard economic times, we have to work wherever we find work, are always looking for the best prices to travel. If 2 or 3, or maybe all these major cities get together, these irresponsible bus companies will have to improve dramatically - this is a Multi Million person region! Start with having customer service and drivers that speak more than 40 words in English !!!!
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