Yet Another Bus Crash

[draybook]

I only aware of the three or four that made the news. Well, at least they were reported here. Two with fatalities. Once again, with the sheer number of volume, this is probably typical statistics at work here.

I can't find any good sites with numbers yet but it should be interesting to read.

 

[powlessfamily4]

If the number bus accident occurrences were that far out of line with the national average, you can bet it would be over reported and more than likely be a topic of discussion on 60 Minutes. You must also consider how many of the accidents were the fault of the Disney bus driver.

Taking everything into account, they appear to be a pretty safe mode of transportation.

 

[donsullivan]

I just found a piece of statistical data around the passenger volumes handled Magical Express. For the period from January to September, 2010 they carried just short of 1.6 million passengers to and from Walt Disney World and the Cruise terminal at Port Canaveral.

The article in the Sentinel was talking about how that number was a reduction of 68,000 from the same period the year earlier.

 

[Unomas]

How sad for those people involved. I wonder if they were coming or going...Think about how excited you are to be getting to Disney World after all of that anticipation. Only to get in a wreck and possibly incur serious injury...Such a bummer.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

How sad for those people involved. I wonder if they were coming or going...Think about how excited you are to be getting to Disney World after all of that anticipation. Only to get in a wreck and possibly incur serious injury...Such a bummer.

I think another poster stated they were on the way to the airport for departure. Makes sense considering the time of day. I'm sure arrivals are far fewer than departures at that time. Either way, not a fun thing to include in a vacation.

 

[NYwdwfan]

Basically, this being off property and on the way to the airport, it should be viewed as a regular traffic accident - not a "Disney Bus" accident. It's like any other car/bus accident near an airport. I'm from New York and with 3 major airports in the area there are multiple accidents near the airports every day! Obviously people were hurt and it is an unfortunate occurance, but it is severely blown out of proportion to report it as a Disney issue. IMO.

 

[niteobsrvr]

I'm really shocked that they have so many wrecks..How many buses do they have on the road at a time? It almost doesn't seem possible to have this many accidents.

Disney owns approximately 290 Disney Transport Busses. THese are the ones that never leave Disney property. They each travel approximatley 60,000 to 70,000 miles per year without leaving Disney property.

Disney's Magical Express and the Cruiseline busses are operated by Mears Destination Services. They are a contracted service.

Using local news sources as backup for accident ratios, I would imagine Disney's buses whether owned or contracted actually fall under or inline with regional accident statistics.

 

[WorldKey]

Nice report, keep us updated on the actual details. Speculation runs high on this board. I'm sure by noon there will have been 2 deaths and the driver of the bus was drunk! LOL

So true!! :ROFLOL:

 

[floridabill]

I think it is unfair to pin this against disney when it is a mears bus. sad to hear about an accident anytime but the news uses disney's name for hits and to me that is sick! as much as you could hate or love disney this one is an unfair blame.

 

[s8film40]

Which is a MEARS bus with a Disney Logo...

Actually DME is now operated by two different bus companies, could have been either a Mears bus or a Maruti bus.

 

[MrBug]

It might be really interesting to see comparative stats on # of people involved in accidents, in rental cars and buses, between MCO and WDW. (Just got my DME packet in the mail today and am quite content to not have to do the driving....)

 

[niteobsrvr]

Actually DME is now operated by two different bus companies, could have been either a Mears bus or a Maruti bus.

Hmmm, when did that happen?

 

[s8film40]

Hmmm, when did that happen?

Apparently a couple of weeks ago. I was talking with one of the DME bus drivers when I noticed his name tag said Maruti, I then asked him about it. He said the government made Mears split up their business and his company won the bid. Some of the buses were transferred to them and have had the "operated by" lettering on them changed.

 

[niteobsrvr]

Apparently a couple of weeks ago. I was talking with one of the DME bus drivers when I noticed his name tag said Maruti, I then asked him about it. He said the government made Mears split up their business and his company won the bid. Some of the buses were transferred to them and have had the "operated by" lettering on them changed.

Interesting. I can only begin to imagine what this means for the future. I doubt that the government made them split up their business though. I would hazard a guess that it came more from internal customer satisfaction surveys. Afterall, as big as Disney is, they are not a monomoply in this area by any stretch of the imagination, even at the airport.

 

[badrew]

Disney owns approximately 290 Disney Transport Busses. THese are the ones that never leave Disney property. They each travel approximatley 60,000 to 70,000 miles per year without leaving Disney property.

Disney's Magical Express and the Cruiseline busses are operated by Mears Destination Services. They are a contracted service.

Using local news sources as backup for accident ratios, I would imagine Disney's buses whether owned or contracted actually fall under or inline with regional accident statistics.

I had just driven past the guest drop off at the MK and was following a Disney Transport bus on Sunday Feb. 6, around 8:15 PM, it was my last night of my recent trip, and all of a sudden the bus took a hard right and went off the road, down into the golf course. I pulled over and called 911 while a nother person pulled over as well. Long story short - the driver I think had a concussion and the bus was labeled "Rapunzel", so no one was on it but the driver. The steering column had snapped and he lost control of the bus, and sailed right between to palm trees. Thank god no one was on the bus beside the driver and he wasn't seriosuly hurt. I stayed with him, and on the phone with 911, until the RCFD showed up and took over. The sadest part, was that myself and this one other woman, both of us had kids back in the car, were the only two people that pulled over to see if anyone needed help.

 

[flavious27]

Does Orlando even have flights at 5 am?

 

[badrew]

Does Orlando even have flights at 5 am?

The DME buses pick you up at your resort on average 3 hours before your scheduled flight. Jet Blue flies out around 6AM daily.

 

[jDoor]

don't even start the 'it wasn't a DISNEY bus' crap..


Mears operates DME, Disney pays they as contracted EMPLOYEES to do it..

IT' s a damn disney bus.... Thats like saying it's not the grocery store that shelved bad bannanas, it's the stock boy..

give me a break.

 

[draybook]

don't even start the 'it wasn't a DISNEY bus' crap..


Mears operates DME, Disney pays they as contracted EMPLOYEES to do it..

IT' s a damn disney bus.... Thats like saying it's not the grocery store that shelved bad bannanas, it's the stock boy..

give me a break.

umadbro?

 

[peter11435]

IT' s a damn disney bus.... Thats like saying it's not the grocery store that shelved bad bannanas, it's the stock boy..

give me a break.

Thats a very poor analogy and not quite true...