Small bus collision in Animal Kingdom...

JustInTime

JustInTime

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Ok, last monday(my first day of vacation), my crew and I were on one of the buses waiting for it to be filled to take us back to our resort. There were two buses there to pick us up. I was on the farther one. When I was sitting in my seat, I noticed that another bus was trying to pass us. And sure enough, the two busses hit. The two scraped down the entire side of each other. You could no longer read the signs on the sides and the rubber tire gards were ripped off both busses. it shook us quite a bit.

So, we wait about 20 mins before some kind of manager shows up. He starts yealling loudly at the bus driver who caused the wreck. We finally got to leave after that but the other driver and the bus stayed put. I thought It was an...intresting way to start off my vacation. I will post my trip report soon with pics(where do I do that btw?). :wave:
 
Mickey87

Mickey87

Member
I hope everyone is ok. I wish they would eventually extend the monorail to the Animal Kingdom to help out with the traffic with the busses, which will probably never happen. Whenever I get on the busses I feel like im on another roller coaster.:hurl: They really like those sharp turns.
 
lighteningqueen

lighteningqueen

Well-Known Member
Last time we were there last Dec on 2 different occasions we had bad drivers. No one should be allowed to stand on these buses. They are very reckless drivers. One decided he didn't need to stop at a light waiting in the turn lane and almost plowed into a car. I yelled at him to stop. Slung everyone forward wheelchairs came out a flying. Everyone was mad. They just fly thru there with no regards to people standing and other traffic. I have experienced this many many times. It is hard enough to hang on while moving. There is always a mother standing and holding a baby because someone would not get up to give her a seat and can only use one hand to hold on. Can't they add more buses so we have to sit down. We cannot do this in our own cars so why is Disney exempt. Also they need to have wheelchair buses only. Thiose scooters take up 3 spac es each plus then the rider has to use a seat or 2 , and their entire family. Leaving only a few seats for the public to board and sit. I sm sure they have more buses they can convert to use for this purpose.
 
RiversideBunny

RiversideBunny

New Member
I am always amazed that there are normally no bus accidents.
So many buses, so many places, so close together.

Hats off to the drivers!

If I had to drive one of those buses I would soon be considered a dude of mass destruction.

:)
 
lighteningqueen

lighteningqueen

Well-Known Member
Maybe so but most all of them are retired in age I think. But no excuse to try and kill all the passengers....Most of them won't even speak to you in the mornings when I greet them kindly. I really am saying they need more buses so not to have anyone standing and a seperate bus to carry EVC's and wheelchairs. To free up many spaces so people can sit. Instead of stand. This is dangerous the way they all drive. Let them stand up holding onto a child or a child and a baby while we drive them. Once no maybe 3 times we have been the last on and had to stand at the door area. He flung us into the windshield almost. I hurt my arm trying to keep from going into it. There needs to be tighter regulations for them no matter what they get paid... How hard is it to just drive carefully and sit in an air conditioned bus and just drive??
 
Thurp

Thurp

Member
You do realize that you do not have to get on the bus if you don't feel safe, right?

You could wait for the next bus and that way you'll get a seat. You may have to wait 15-20 minutes, but hey, you are on vacation, no need to rush.
 
mastif

mastif

New Member
I tell you, we came within inches of hitting a little black suv when he cut us off and the driver was messing with the radio. Luckily he noticed just in time and slammed on the brakes, hard. Hard enough that people standing fell forward in the aisle
 
thecompman

thecompman

Member
lighteningqueen said:
Maybe so but most all of them are retired in age I think. But no excuse to try and kill all the passengers....Most of them won't even speak to you in the mornings when I greet them kindly. I really am saying they need more buses so not to have anyone standing and a seperate bus to carry EVC's and wheelchairs. To free up many spaces so people can sit. Instead of stand. This is dangerous the way they all drive. Let them stand up holding onto a child or a child and a baby while we drive them. Once no maybe 3 times we have been the last on and had to stand at the door area. He flung us into the windshield almost. I hurt my arm trying to keep from going into it. There needs to be tighter regulations for them no matter what they get paid... How hard is it to just drive carefully and sit in an air conditioned bus and just drive??
Click to expand...

I'm not clear if your objection is to standing on a bus period, or standing on a bus at WDW while you have a bad driver? If it's the former then your argument doesn't have much basis, I live in NYC and we stand on buses, subways, trains, all the time. If you are saying that no one should stand with a crazy driver at the wheel, then that I can understand.

My objection to the buses is actually that they don't take enough advantage of the standing room. In NYC they pack those people in the bus, the driver tells everyone to "keep moving back, don't stand in the front if there is room in the back".

I've seen on many an occasion where it is the end of the night, the park is closing and there are hundreds of people waiting for a bus. When the bus finally comes and loads they fill the seats first, then people walk half way into the bus stop and grab a hand rail and that's it. The entire back of the bus is still empty and can easily accomodate 20 more people. All the driver has to do is kindly ask people to continue filling in all available space towards the back of the bus so they can load more people.

They do it in the queues. A lot more people would be able to get back to their resorts a lot faster. But usually the driver just sits there and when the people reach the front they close the doors and pull away, even though there is still plenty of room.

Ok, end of rant :)
 
luckyeye13

luckyeye13

New Member
lighteningqueen said:
Can't they add more buses so we have to sit down. We cannot do this in our own cars so why is Disney exempt.
Click to expand...

Not only is WDW exempt, but so are New York, Rutgers University, London, Geneva, Delhi, Toronto, Montreal, New Jersey, Larnaca International Airport, Luxembourg, Kathmandu, Macau, Chennai, Mumbai, Washington, Los Angeles, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Puebla, St. Petersburg, and many other places where I have also had to stand while riding a bus.

thecompman said:
My objection to the buses is actually that they don't take enough advantage of the standing room. In NYC they pack those people in the bus, the driver tells everyone to "keep moving back, don't stand in the front if there is room in the back".
Click to expand...

When I was in Toronto and Montreal in July, I noticed that there are small strips that go from the front of the bus to the back on both sides and say things like "Please move back." and "A little further, please." (Of course, those sayings are written in French in Montreal.)
 
Tom

Tom

Beta Return
lighteningqueen said:
Maybe so but most all of them are retired in age I think. But no excuse to try and kill all the passengers....Most of them won't even speak to you in the mornings when I greet them kindly. I really am saying they need more buses so not to have anyone standing and a seperate bus to carry EVC's and wheelchairs. To free up many spaces so people can sit. Instead of stand. This is dangerous the way they all drive. Let them stand up holding onto a child or a child and a baby while we drive them. Once no maybe 3 times we have been the last on and had to stand at the door area. He flung us into the windshield almost. I hurt my arm trying to keep from going into it. There needs to be tighter regulations for them no matter what they get paid... How hard is it to just drive carefully and sit in an air conditioned bus and just drive??
Click to expand...

Most of the bus drivers are over 65?

Do you know how many buses they have? Lots - exactly lots. I too get frustrated while waiting in line for buses - but I also know what their limits are. If they ran enough buses so that nobody ever stood in a bus line, you couldn't afford to go to the parks.

They all have CDLs. They've all passed bus driving tests. No, they're not all equal in ability, but if you divide the number of bus accidents by the millions (yes, millions) of miles they drive each year - 2 is pretty darn good. There are FAR more City Bus accidents than that each year here in Indy.

Nobody stands in the front door area. You can't stand forward of the line on the floor - period. Required by law. Every driver knows this. If they can't see out the doors to their right, they can't drive.

I would suggest that you take a turn driving a giant vehicle with air brakes and limited side and no rear sightlines with a literal roar of noise behind you - in the middle of WDW traffic (full of people who REALLY shouldn't be driving) - before you criticize the Disney bus drivers.

How hard is it to drive a monorail without wrecking it? Well, nobody thought it was that hard until we were proven wrong a few months ago. Too many outside factors, but I still strongly believe that Disney has a higher record of safety on public transportation than any city in the US. (I'm guessing, not fact)
 
lighteningqueen

lighteningqueen

Well-Known Member
You wee not there and we were... Everyone was ready to get off that bus. The people in the wheelchairs and their families were calling Disney officials and reporting this man. He was not paying one bit of attention. Yes we were barely behind the line but he slammed on the breaks hard enough to sling people forward into us and the wheelchair that was not hooked properly by this man.. We screamed for him to stop. He was not watching out his front windsheild.He would have killed the family in the small car. They are a little wild and should take it a little easier on breaks and corners. I think most of us would rather get there safe than in a hurry. We were in no hurry at any time . He told us to get on the bus that there was plenty of room.. Not so.
 
WDW1974

WDW1974

Well-Known Member
hmm ... so now it's back to defending TDO for overexpanding WDW without providing the proper transportation solutions be they monorail expansion, light rail/peoplemovers, watercraft etc ...

This is kind of like developers putting in massive subdivisions in Central FLA while doing nothing as far as roads/traffic, schools etc.

The only difference is Disney moves a lot of folks on those buses and all it will take is one accident that leaves little princesses and pirates bleeding and broken on the pavement for Disney to start thinking there's an inherent safety issue. Too many buses, too many cars, too many people.

I try and stay off Disney buses, especially anytime when they're packed. But I steadfastly won't stand because it isn't safe. I always opt to wait for another bus ... never gotten more than a dirty look from a CM looking to get home faster.
 
DisneyMusician2

DisneyMusician2

Well-Known Member
I'm not speaking one way or the other, but I have been using Disney buses for years and standing on city buses for years and have never encountered a problem.

Accidents happen, no matter what the cause. I honestly think the WDW Bus system works better than many major city transportation systems I've used.

And I'm usually one of the first ripping people when things go wrong.
 
spaceghost

spaceghost

Well-Known Member
Was this a collision of small buses? Or a small collision of a bus? As long as it wasn't a short bus, I think that we might be ok.... :lookaroun
 

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