As the U.S. government cracks down on safety regulations for bus companies one year after a Sky Express bus crash killed four people, bus companies preparing for the holiday season said they have done well in safety inspections.
As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, transportation companies operating in Boston anticipate a large number of travelers and take measures to accommodate the increases, said Peter Pan Bus Lines Vice President of Safety and Security Chris Crean.
“We hire out to other companies anywhere from 200 to 300 additional coaches for the excessive amount of passengers,” he said. “During the holidays, we have to double and triple everyday schedules.”
Crean said his company increases coaches to accommodate capacity, but safety policies do not change as strict policies are in place year round.
He said he is confident his bus company will operate safely during the holiday travel season.
“We operate on strict safety and security rules,” Crean said. “The holiday is no different than today. We’re always at the point where constant assessing standards are in place for people to get from point A to point B in a safe manner.”
There were 9,000 crashes involving buses in 2009, in which 254 people were killed and 20,000 were injured, according to Department of Transportation statistics.
After a Sky Express bus crashed in Virginia in May 2011, killing four people and injuring 50, the U.S. Department of Transportation increased policies and security measures for all other bus companies, Crean said.
“Now you have to go through a system where they do an audit of you,” he said. “We’ve been subject to a lot more inspections. They’ll be here for three to four days and go through all [of] our stuff. We’ve done very well.”
The Department of Transportation shut down Sky Express following the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board found in July driver fatigue and weak regulations were at fault.
BoltBus spokesman Timothy Stokes said in an email that safety measures include year-round training for drivers to ensure their safety while operating the coaches, as well as to ensure the safety of passengers.
“Training continues throughout a driver’s tenure with the company to ensure all drivers are familiar with any new laws or safety procedures,” he said. “The safety and security of our passengers is our top priority and something we take very seriously.”
Stokes said a trained maintenance team routinely inspects BoltBus coaches to ensure they are up to date and safe for passengers to be transported on.
In addition to more frequent inspections, Crean said companies are also given report cards that reflect how they do from inspections, which better identify at-risk carriers.
“When people get on bus, there is so much information for individuals to find about the safety of a carrier prior to getting on them,” he said. “There is so much behind the scenes, safety and security to make sure nothing like that [Virginia crash] happens.”
One person also died in an August crash when one double-decker from Megabus, which provides trips to major cities across the U.S. and Canada, crashed in Illinois on its way to St. Louis. The accident was reportedly caused by a blown tire.
But Megabus is also subject to review and has passed every exam, said Mike Alvich, vice president of marketing and public relations for Megabus, in an email.
“The inspectors come by to check our maintenance procedures, and we get the highest marks by the government,” he said. “We have to stay on top of safety every single trip. Drivers really have to stay alert.”
Bus riders in Boston’s South Station said they feel safe taking buses from South Station, even during the holiday season.
Colgate University junior Anna Gutowski, who transferred buses Wednesday afternoon for a Peter Pan bus to New York at South Station, said the buses are safe for travel even though she has only taken buses a couple times in her life.
“It must be pretty crazy for buses around the holidays,” she said. “The only thing that happened in my experience was last week going up to Maine, we had to switch buses because one was overcrowded. People were annoyed, but that’s it.”
Johnson and Wales University student Ashley DiGiulian said while she usually takes a train, transportation for trains and buses on holidays requires buying tickets far in advance to get a seat.
“You have to buy in advance, or else you might have to go on something like a wait list,” she said. “With buses, you might hit traffic, especially during the holidays.”
New York resident Genesis Jaramillo, who traveled by BoltBus to Boston for a business trip, said the safety on buses do not differ from the safety a person gets driving themselves.
“I think it’s fine, it’s the same as taking a car,” she said. “When you take a bus, there are always some risks, the same as being in a car.”
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