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Bus Fire- Magic Kingdom

Space Mountain

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Reporting from the parks: Currently all bus service to and from Magic Kingdom is suspended. Guests must travel to/from TTC. A Disney bus is surrounded my medical and fire vehicles while smoke pours out on side B.
 

DonaldDoleWhip

Well-Known Member
I hope everyone's okay. I remember seeing a pic of a bus on fire outside of AK and it looked really frightening. Does this happen often? I remember someone saying that the buses catch fire way more often than anyone would expect.
 

unkadug

Follower of "Saget"The Cult
I hope everyone's okay. I remember seeing a pic of a bus on fire outside of AK and it looked really frightening. Does this happen often? I remember someone saying that the buses catch fire way more often than anyone would expect.

Disney Transportation is really in a shambles. And can still expect a ticket price increase in a few months.
 

boufa

Well-Known Member
This is why I wouldn't be surprised if Disney is actively looking to outsource the bus transportation throughout the resort.

Disney transportation is free, and the admission tickets went up a couple months ago... so ???

It is one of the largest transportation networks in all of Florida (#3 I think). I know in the major city I live in we have about as many incidents as they have a WDW and I would bet that their system is of similar size.
 

menamechris

Well-Known Member
Disney transportation is free, and the admission tickets went up a couple months ago... so ???

It is one of the largest transportation networks in all of Florida (#3 I think). I know in the major city I live in we have about as many incidents as they have a WDW and I would bet that their system is of similar size.

I am not sure where I am losing you. You pretty much explained the point. Disney offers it as a free service. Your city/county collects taxes from every single household to keep your city transportation maintained and running. Disney is in a position that they are having to keep a bus fleet the size of your city's going regardless of how the business profit rises and falls. It is a business model nightmare, I am sure...
 

boufa

Well-Known Member
I am not sure where I am losing you. You pretty much explained the point. Disney offers it as a free service. Your city/county collects taxes from every single household to keep your city transportation maintained and running. Disney is in a position that they are having to keep a bus fleet the size of your city's going regardless of how the business profit rises and falls. It is a business model nightmare, I am sure...

See, we agree... except it seems like every little thing looks like a major failure. If a bus caught fire in Memphis, TN no one here would know. If it happened every day, no one here would know. But in this case all eyes are watching it, so every little things seem out of the ordinary.

An internal combustion engine is an explosion that us measured and contained within the engine. If something (even something small) goes wrong it can produce dramatic results. Busses are built (cars too) with fire protections that allow the engine to almost completely burn themselves up without impacting the passenger compartment. I am not yet ready to make the leap that this is a failure on the part of Disney transportation.
 

Monorail_Red

Well-Known Member
Disney Transportation is really in a shambles. And can still expect a ticket price increase in a few months.
Disney Transportation has a better safety record than most public transportation systems, so I don't see how it would be in shambles. And ticket prices have nothing to do with transportation.

This is why I wouldn't be surprised if Disney is actively looking to outsource the bus transportation throughout the resort.
That will never happen, because it will be a downgrade in Guest service. I don't think Disney will ever put their name on the side of a bus that isn't owned by them except for Mears with DME, which is an exception because they are transporting Guests to/from property.

There was one day when I used to work at Buss Ops that a few American Coach busses were used (the Blue busses that the CP's use) and that morning was a mess, so I don't think that will ever happen again.
 

Monorail_Red

Well-Known Member
A bit off topic here but does anyone know the diesel fuel costs for Disney? Im surprised more things are not electric by now.

Every vehicle on property runs a bio fuel, with the older RTS buses being one of the few exceptions because their motors can't handle that type of fuel. They get a good amount of their bio fuel from the used cooking oil across property.
 

captainkidd

Well-Known Member
That will never happen, because it will be a downgrade in Guest service. I don't think Disney will ever put their name on the side of a bus that isn't owned by them except for Mears with DME, which is an exception because they are transporting Guests to/from property.

Out of curiosity, why is that an exception? Do you think guests not in the "know", differentiate ME as not being Disney?

That's one thing I don't like about ME. No offense to anyone here, but I've never had a driver who spoke proper English, and can't understand half of what they're saying. That and the fact that there's a sign basically telling you to tip the driver.
 

Monorail_Red

Well-Known Member
Out of curiosity, why is that an exception? Do you think guests not in the "know", differentiate ME as not being Disney?

That's one thing I don't like about ME. No offense to anyone here, but I've never had a driver who spoke proper English, and can't understand half of what they're saying. That and the fact that there's a sign basically telling you to tip the driver.
I don't know why it would be an exception, my guess would be because WDW doesn't own the large coach buses, and/or they don't want to be liable for guest transportation outside of property.

I have had the same experiences on DME as a guest. And I don't think that the first time guests know the difference between DME (or any other 3rd party operating participant) from Disney.
 

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