Monorail Front-Riding

[Phonedave]

Yes and if another accident occurs and a pilot is hurt a good lawyer will start asking why guest were not allowed to ride in front and I bet Disney will come up with something other than "it was too risky".

There are many situation where the operator of a peice of equipment is in a position of more risk than the passengers are.

Aside from the factor of safety discussion, there is also the distraction factor to consider. Having a guest in the cab with you is a distraction.

It is not an unheard of practice to have the operator of a vehicle in a seperate area that is inaccessable to the passengers. In fact I was suprised when I first found out that you could ride in the cab of the monorail.

-dave

 

[Nextinline]

as of last week, front riding at Disneyland was still allowed

 

[s8film40]

Yes, has been quite a while since they reinstated it there. Also if I'm not mistaken the same risks are present there as WDW.

 

[MichRX7]

It is about perception more than reality. I would allow myself and my family to sit in the front of a monorail in a second because I know that they system is safe and that the chances of a repeat of the fatal accident being repeated border on astronomical.

I feel the same way. Id put my family up there and not think twice.

Both of you would be standing in line behind my family! :ROFLOL:

We've been riding up front and having first-timer friends ride up front for almost 40 years now. I wish they'd bring it back and add more character topiary's for us to gawk at while riding.

 

[landauh]

Just for information: If WDW allows riders in the front cab again, it will still be up to the driver if they want to or not. More than 80% of the current drivers have said that they would not drive with guests in the cab.

 

[Kamikaze]

Just for information: If WDW allows riders in the front cab again, it will still be up to the driver if they want to or not. More than 80% of the current drivers have said that they would not drive with guests in the cab.

97% of statistics are made up on the spot.

Yes, has been quite a while since they reinstated it there. Also if I'm not mistaken the same risks are present there as WDW.

Not really. With only one track, the chances of a collision are much less. You only have to worry about that one train in front of you. Not about switches or which track the train is on.
Plus, the Disneyland monorail is actually classified as an attraction, and not transportation. The WDW monorail system is transportation, not an attraction.

 

[Crazy4WDW1]

Just for information: If WDW allows riders in the front cab again, it will still be up to the driver if they want to or not. More than 80% of the current drivers have said that they would not drive with guests in the cab.

Does a cast member actually get to make that decision? I'm surprised if Disney would allow one driver to allow guests and another not. It seems that there would have to be some consistency in this policy.

I'm thinking that the insurance carrier for the parks would be the one making the decision on whether or not to allow guests to ever ride again. The price of insuring guests after this tragic accident would probably be unthinkable.

 

[Rob562]

Does a cast member actually get to make that decision? I'm surprised if Disney would allow one driver to allow guests and another not. It seems that there would have to be some consistency in this policy.

I'm thinking that the insurance carrier for the parks would be the one making the decision on whether or not to allow guests to ever ride again. The price of insuring guests after this tragic accident would probably be unthinkable.

Before the accident, the pilots could turn down passengers up front if they truly wanted to, though I'm sure it was encouraged to take passengers.

-Rob

 

[s8film40]

97% of statistics are made up on the spot.



Not really. With only one track, the chances of a collision are much less. You only have to worry about that one train in front of you. Not about switches or which track the train is on.
Plus, the Disneyland monorail is actually classified as an attraction, and not transportation. The WDW monorail system is transportation, not an attraction.

As long as you still have more than one train on a track the possibility of a collision will exist. They have switches as well. I don't understand how a classification of it being an attraction or transportation would effect how risky it is, I really don't think that has any bearing at all on this.

 

[s8film40]

Before the accident, the pilots could turn down passengers up front if they truly wanted to, though I'm sure it was encouraged to take passengers.

-Rob

The only time I ever heard of this was some pilots refusing to let guests drive and they were taken out of the train and replaced with a pilot who was willing to participate with the guests driving magical moment program.

 

[Kamikaze]

As long as you still have more than one train on a track the possibility of a collision will exist. They have switches as well. I don't understand how a classification of it being an attraction or transportation would effect how risky it is, I really don't think that has any bearing at all on this.

Yes they have switches, but it isn't between tracks. They are just on/off. The accident happened because they were switching tracks. This is not a concern at DLR.

As far as attraction vs transportation, there are many ways it makes a difference.
- Liability
- Oversight (NTSB vs OSHA)
- And just simple perception.

 

[s8film40]

Yes they have switches, but it isn't between tracks. They are just on/off. The accident happened because they were switching tracks. This is not a concern at DLR.

As far as attraction vs transportation, there are many ways it makes a difference.
- Liability
- Oversight (NTSB vs OSHA)
- And just simple perception.

Accidents can happen in any variety of situations not just when switching from one track to another. The first collision at WDW occurred when a monorail entering the MK station hit the train in front of it while it was exiting, this was during normal operation and had nothing to do with switches at all.

Disney does not have oversight from NTSB and OSHA has not prohibited the front riding. I'm not sure how a vehicles classification affects liability and perception.

 

[Kamikaze]

Accidents can happen in any variety of situations not just when switching from one track to another. The first collision at WDW occurred when a monorail entering the MK station hit the train in front of it while it was exiting, this was during normal operation and had nothing to do with switches at all.

Disney does not have oversight from NTSB and OSHA has not prohibited the front riding. I'm not sure how a vehicles classification affects liability and perception.

Uh, it was the NTSB that investigated the recent accident. OSHA would have oversight of DL's monorail. Also, an accident from 1974 is hardly relevant. We all know that huge upgrades have been made to the systems since then.

Liability is higher on modes of transportation than on an 'attraction'. Just the way it is.

Perception? Well thats the eye of the beholder. No one on this board is a good judge of the perception of the average Disney guest.

 

[s8film40]

Uh, it was the NTSB that investigated the recent accident. OSHA would have oversight of DL's monorail. Also, an accident from 1974 is hardly relevant. We all know that huge upgrades have been made to the systems since then.

Liability is higher on modes of transportation than on an 'attraction'. Just the way it is.

Perception? Well thats the eye of the beholder. No one on this board is a good judge of the perception of the average Disney guest.

NTSB investigated but they have no authority over the monorail system. They could investigate accidents with the steam train as well it doesn't give them "oversight".

I understand that an accident from 1974 has no bearing on the current situation my point was that accidents rarely repeat themselves if something else ever happened it's likely it would be a situation no one ever thought of.

 

[landauh]

The only time I ever heard of this was some pilots refusing to let guests drive and they were taken out of the train and replaced with a pilot who was willing to participate with the guests driving magical moment program.

Only managers were allowed to let guests drive a monorail.

 

[s8film40]

Only managers were allowed to let guests drive a monorail.

No it was managers and trainers, I was there and saw one refuse, the manager then found another pilot who was a trainer and replaced him.

 

[unkadug]

Riding upfront is one thing, expecting to be able to drive the monorail is another thing entirely. Do guests expect to be able to drive a Disney bus?

Very bad idea.