Buses World News

In brief: Worldwide montly news & informations about Buses, Busmakers, Passengers' and the Transport Industry

26.3.16

DANGEROUS TRIP * Pakistan

* Besham - Huge boulders smash into buses as passengers escape to safety during deadly landslide

-- A terrifying video shows rocks tumbling down the hillside and hitting the stricken buses... Huge boulders smash into buses as passengers escape to safety during deadly landslide... These bus passengers were among the lucky ones who managed to escape a devastating landslide... Huge rocks and boulders come tumbling down the hillside as two buses full of travellers sit on the edge of a tiny road... The footage was shot on the Karakorum Highway in Pakistan... Everyone on board, including the drivers, managed to get off the vehicles... But the road has remained shut for eight days after becoming blocked six point along the cliff road...
(Photo: The rocks hit the stricken buses) -- Karakorum Highway, Pakistan - The Mirror (UK), by KELLY-ANN MILLS - 25 MAR 2016

Labels: dangerous trips

23.3.16

DANGEROUS TRIP in BUSES * Lebanon/Dáesh

* Beirut - Buses provide rare bridge to IS turf

(Photo by Anwar Amro/AFP: Bus driver Abu Ali walks past prepares to travel into Syria from the Charles Helou bus station in Beirut)

-- "Raqa! Manbij! Al-Bab!" drivers call out at a bus station in the heart of bustling Beirut looking for passengers to make the perilous journey to Islamic State group strongholds in Syria... "Just before we reach the first Daesh checkpoint, everyone throws out their cigarettes," said Abu Ali, a bus driver in his 40s, using a derogatory Arabic name for IS. "And we spray perfume in the bus so that they can't smell the tobacco, otherwise we'll be whipped!" he said with concern etched into his expression, as he prepared to travel up to Manbij in northern Syria... The jihadists, who apply their own extreme interpretation of Islam in areas of Syria and Iraq that they have seized since 2013, do more than just inspect the bus for cigarettes. "They even smell our hands to make sure we haven't smoked," said Jawad, another bus driver, also using a pseudonym for fear of retribution... Standing near his bus at the Charles Helou station near the Lebanese capital's harbour, another driver begged AFP journalists not to film either his face or his number plate. "These people, they're dangerous, and they can recognise the bus even from the most minor detail," said the terrified man... The buses, which leave from a bus station located in one of Beirut's busiest districts, are a rare link between IS-held turf in Syria and the outside world. Since IS began conquering swathes of Syria in 2013, the buses have made two journeys a week to areas under the jihadists' grip, often with no more than three passengers on board... In cities like Raqa, the IS de facto capital in northern Syria, and Al-Bab to the west, residents are banned from smoking or wearing clothes deemed inappropriate under the jihadists' interpretation of sharia law...

(Photo by Anwar Amro/AFP - Buses from Beirut make two journeys a week to areas of Syria under jihadists' control, often with only a couple of passengers on board)

-- "Before the war, it took us four hours to make this journey; now, the route is 24 hours long," Abu Ali said... The buses leave from Beirut and pass through Damascus and Dmeir before reaching Palmyra in eastern Syria, in IS hands since spring last year... The vehicles then head northwest towards Raqa, Manbij, Maskana and Al-Bab near Turkey... "When the fighting is fierce, the regime doesn't let us through and we are forced to spend one or two nights on the road before we can continue on our journey," Abu Ali explained... Yet on one of the world's most dangerous routes, neither drivers nor passengers can ever be sure they'll make it to their destinations alive... "My colleague was heading back several days ago on the Palmyra road, when fighting broke out," Mohammed said... "I recognised his bus, its front was completely smashed in. He didn't make it" ...
Beirut, Lebanon - AFP/Daily Mail - 21 March 2016

Labels: dangerous roads, dangerous trips

3.2.15

* Syria - Possibly the most terrifying public transit job in history

* Syria & Lebanon - Driving a bus in

(STR-AFP / Getty Images - A yellow public transportation bus is used as a barricade along the front line in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, on May 13, 2013)
-- Every few days Mohammed, who spoke under a pseudonym, drives from Beirut in Lebanon to Aleppo in northern Syria, a journey across the devastated country... The windscreen of Mohammed’s coach was so cracked that it was held together with adhesive tape. Bullet holes had pierced the side. Fans and reading lights above the passenger seats had been ripped out to prevent smuggled weapons being hidden in the vent behind them... Mohammed – a slender man in his mid-forties with a nervous twitch – is a bus driver in Syria, which may now be the most dangerous job in the world... Even in the throes of civil war, the country’s public transport has not stopped. But the journeys involve crossing front lines, accelerating through armed clashes and running the gauntlet of kidnap by pro-regime gunmen and jihadists alike... “A lot of times my bus was shot at,” said Mohammed. “I have driven through live clashes between the armed groups and the regime” ... Another driver, Abed, sat behind the wheel of an equally battered vehicle. Much of his face was covered in a thick but patchy beard. On the journey it can make the difference between life and death. “If I don’t have a beard, then at best the jihadists won’t let me enter their area,” he said... Abed regularly drives from Beirut in Lebanon to Raqqa in northeast Syria, the “de facto capital” of terrain controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS)... “It’s a very hard situation,” he said. “Every time you leave your house you wonder if you will ever return” ... Recently militiamen forced all Abed’s passengers from the coach. “They demanded everyone’s mobile phones,” he said... “When one person put up resistance they shot directly around their feet to scare them. Other times they have just killed people on the spot.”.. For all the dangers, though, in Syria’s depressed economy neither Abed nor Mohammed can afford to give up work... Beirut,Lebanon -The Telegraph/National Post, by Ruth Sherlock -February 2, 2015:

Labels: dangerous jobs, dangerous trips

8.11.10

Flash Strike * India - PMPML drivers on contract demand bonus, go on strike

Flash strike by bus drivers at the Bhosari and Nigdi bus depots

Pune,India -TNN/The Times of India -Nov 6, 2010: -- Public transport services in the city was partially disrupted on Friday following a flash strike by bus drivers at the Bhosari and Nigdi bus depots. The drivers, who are working with a contractor from whom the PMPML has hired buses, are demanding that they be paid Diwali bonus... PMPML officials said as many as 60 buses remained off the roads as result of the strike. The strike affected the bus service, thus causing inconvenience to commuters. However, Friday being a holiday, there was less than usual rush of passengers... In addition to the 1,100-odd buses in its fleet, the PMPML has hired over 250 buses from various private contractors. The transport company has already paid bonus and ex-gratia amount to its staff. The drivers employed with the private contractor have demanded that they too be paid Diwali bonus... The PMPML officials had no clues about when the strike will be withdrawn. The officials indicated that the issue has to be resolved by the contractor. The strike is not likely to affect people seriously as the next two days are holidays. The authorities are also hoping that the strike would be called off soon... (Photo from cdn.wn: The Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited -PMPML- ... but good revenue does not necessarily translate into quality service)

* India - Overcrowded PMPML buses means passengers travelling dangerously on the footboard or clinging to the bars of windows while maintaining a toe-hold

Pune,India -The Times of India/TNN -Nov 4, 2010: ... The life-threatening manner of travel has made Prashant Inamdar of Pedestrians First write to district collector Chandrakant Dalvi, also the chairman of the newly formed district transport authority... The unsafe way is also a serious violation of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and traffic rules, said Inamdar. In his earlier letter to PMPML, Inamdar said that a commuter standing precariously on the doorway may slip off and get hit by another vehicle. He added that the driver would also face difficulties in controlling and steering the bus in such an unbalanced condition and accidents may rise... There have been fatal accidents involving commuters travelling in a dangerous manner. Inamdar said that overloaded buses create a poor image of the public transport undertaking and the city... (Photo from beta.thehindu: Commuters travelling in an overcrowded private bus in Kolkata on August 3, 2009)

Labels: dangerous trips, public transport systems

14.10.10

DANGEROUS TRIPS * USA - Beware of the Geeses: Bus From Maryland Collide Against, On N.J. Turnpike

A double-decker bus collided with a flock of geese, forcing an emergency stop...

Mount Laurel,NJ,USA -CBS/WJZ News, by Matt Simon ― Oct 10, 2010: -- A double-decker bus collided with a flock of geese late Saturday morning on I-95 in Burlington County, N.J., shattering the windshield and forcing an emergency stop... A WJZ producer, who was on board the bus, witnessed what happened... The impact was about two feet to the right of the driver, sending small shards of glass into his left eye... The Megabus, which originated in Washington D.C., made a stop in White Marsh and was then headed for its final destination of New York City... A state trooper on the scene said he has seen several car-deer collisions, but could not recall ever having to respond to a scene because of damage from geese...

* Chicago - Rider describes panic in CTA bus crash: 'It all happened so fast'

South Side,Chicago,ILL,USA -The Chicago Sun Times, by Lisa Donovan -October 11, 2010: -- Modupe Sodamade had dozed off in her seat Saturday afternoon as the No. 6 Jackson Park Express bus glided away from downtown, south on Lake Shore Drive... Suddenly, she felt the bus veer -- and then veer harder -- as it left the road. Panic set in: The bus didn't seem to be braking, much less stopping... "It kept going ... there were no brakes that were felt, you didn't know when it was going to stop," said Sodamade, who said it was then that the panic set in... And then, as a rush of tree branches knocked the sides of the bus, it stopped with a jolt...

* USA - School buses collide in Paradise Twp.

Pocono,PENN,USA -The Pocono Record -October 11, 2010: -- Two buses taking members of the Hazelton Area School District marching band to a competition Saturday at Pocono Mountain East collided... A 2003 Freightliner school bus rear-ended a 2001 Freightliner, causing minor damage to both buses. Eleven of the 44 passengers on the 2003 bus and nine of the 27 riding in the 2001 bus reported minor injuries... The injured were treated at the scene by a registered nurse traveling with the band. Parents of the injured students were notified... The Pennsylvania State Police in Swiftwater are investigating the crash... (Photo from bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews: An accident involving two school buses carrying Students)

Labels: dangerous trips

17.9.09

DANGEROUS TRIPS * Afghanistan - The road ahead

Kabul,Afghanistan -BBC News/News By Bilal Sarwary -12 Sept 2009: -- It's a sunny summer morning at a busy bus station in Jalalabad, capital of eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar... The bus connecting the city to the Afghan capital of Kabul is about to start... In his voice hoarse, Lal Mohammad, the driver makes the final announcement...

Jalalabad is renowned throughout Afghanistan for its fertile soil and the chaotic nature of its traffic... The stench of diesel fumes mixed with the sweat of the man is overpowering as Mohammad takes a turn and stopped the car in the middle of the road... A police officer board the bus here and politely asked passengers to disembark... His men then undertake a quick search. The shell luggage, seats, floor and even the hood are scanned for weapons and opium... Mohammad soon gets the green light from the officer to proceed...

Like any other part of the country, security on the road remains a major concern... As the Hindu Kush mountains appear picturesque in the distance, switches on the music Mohammad Pashtun, and one by one, passengers are serenaded in a state of silent terror... The spell is broken when the bus stopped suddenly on a narrow road, flanked by peaks and fragments of rock ledge... Nearby, soldiers from the Afghan National Army are keeping an eye on the road from their Humvee... Their faces show an intense distrust - a result of months of relentless violence...

(Photo: Kabul Halalabad Highway)
It is only recently, several tankers of fuel from ISAF convoys and transport have been attacked by the Taliban in this valley... A soldier boards the bus, ordering passengers to disembark immediately - is the latest in a series of checkpoints in security along the route... Khan is on his way to Kabul to settle the case for her son who was killed by a local commander in the district of Sarkano. ..

Labels: dangerous trips

18.8.09

DANGEROUS TRIPS * Guatemala - In the midst of deadly bus attacks

City of Guatemala,Guatemala -The Albuquerque News (Albuquerque,NM,USA) -28 July, 2009: -- Guatemala has recently seen numerous attacks on public transport over the matter of protection money... Bus drivers and passengers have all been targeted in the attacks, which have led to the deaths of 139 people over the past six months... Drivers have had their buses boarded by criminals, who have taken all measures to extract money, including the murder of passengers... In the latest attacks, two drivers and one conductor died in southern Guatemala when members of an extortion gang threw grenades onto a bus carrying security guards... The growing wave of attacks is being investigated by police, who have reported the gangs usually try to extract around
$85 per week in protection money in order to permit drivers into the city... (AFP - Officials say that bus drivers are being targeted by gangs for their takings)

Labels: dangerous trips

18.4.09

COWARDS !! Predators on the Bus * France - Policeman “Harms Image” of Bus Company

Paris,France -Tiberge on Sun/The Brussels Journal -12 April 2009: -- A six-minute video from a surveillance camera, showing an attack on a young white man in a Parisian bus, during the night of December 6-7, 2008, has aroused a tsunami of reactions throughout the French-language Internet. At François Desouche there are almost 2000 comments to the video, not to mention other sites... The reaction was so overwhelming that censorship of the video by both Daily Motion and YouTube was easily foreseeable. FDS decided, therefore, to use a Russian version on RuTube... -Click here to view the video- ... The reason for the explosion of reactions, most of them expressing outrage at what happened on the bus, is that this is a racist attack by dark-skinned individuals (whose faces are visible) on a white man. Since the French State vigorously opposes racism "in all its forms", it remains to be seen if this crime is ever designated as a "hate" crime against a white man... Some were shocked by the video because the faces were visible – normally this is not permitted. Hence the censorship of the video... (Photo from 4.bp.blogspot.com: Scene on bus)

See too: Stockholm Syndrome Goes Paris: Violent Bus Ride – The Victim Speaks

Labels: dangerous trips

25.6.08

SAFETY * Venezuela - Anticrime troops posted on buses

About 500 guardsmen have been assigned to ride on buses in Caracas as a deterrent against frequent armed robberies and killings of bus drivers

Caracas,Venezuela -Bolivarian News Agency/AP/Boston.com (USA) -19 June 2008: -- Venezuela's government started posting National Guard troops on buses yesterday to try to prevent violent crime... Some will escort buses by motorcycle through crime-prone areas, General Alirio Ramirez told... President Hugo Chávez unveiled the idea on his Sunday television program, but it was not clear whether the project would be permanent...

Labels: dangerous trips

7.3.08

DANGEROUS TRIPS * USA - Coaches Drive Buses Because Drivers Not Available

Richmond,TX,USA -FortBendNow, by John Pape -4 March 2008: -- Recent complaints aired by Fort Bend ISD bus drivers at school board meetings have included the allegation that coaches are being made to drive school buses to avoid paying bus drivers, but the district has responded that coaches have always driven team buses because there are simply not enough bus drivers available... One driver, who asked that his name not be used, said that coaches are not as qualified as regular bus drivers to handle an emergency situation... Veteran bus driver Joe Buchanan told trustees at a recent meeting that the district pays drivers less for field trips and to drive athletic teams than for a regular route. He said that drivers are paid $11 per hour for such trips, while the regular rate of pay is $13.98 per hour. Additionally, Buchanan said, drivers should get food allowances for field trips of over four hours since, during that time, they are required to stay with the bus...

* Concerns for Kids' Safety on the Rise After Spate of Yellow Bus Accidents

USA -FOXNews, by Kathleen Murray -March 5, 2008: -- The iconic yellow school bus for years has been touted as the safest form of motor vehicle transportation for schoolchildren, but recent crashes and rollovers have some parents feeling less than confident about the safety of their kids... The recent incidents have rekindled the debate over whether seat belts should be mandatory on school buses... Federal law does not require seat belts on large school buses. On a state level, only California, Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York and Texas require seat belts on school buses... About 474,000 school buses carry 25.1 million children to and from school every year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration... On average, fewer than eight passengers a year die in school bus crashes, according to agency statistics... (Photo: March 3: 3 A Georgia State trooper looks over the wreckage of an overturned school bus crash in Canton,GA)

Labels: dangerous trips

5.10.07

DANGEROUS TRIPS * Chinese Bus Fire Kills 27 Passengers In Congqing

Chongqing, China -The Shanghai Daily/AHN, by Windsor Genova - October 2, 2007: -- Authorities say 27 people have been killed and 11 were injured after the bus they were riding caught fire in a in central China... The bus with 38 passengers was going to downtown Chongqing when it caught fire at 5:15 pm (9:15 am GMT). Eleven people, including the driver, managed to escape from the burning bus and were rushed by rescuers to local hospitals for treatment... The bus driver, who was detained by police, said the fire started from the bags of two passengers, who were among the fatalities. The couple, believed to be officials of the company that owns the bus, were seated in the row behind the driver's seat... The Wansheng branch of the Chongqing Guanzhong No. 3 Public Transport Company owns the bus...

* Police blame arson for bus fire killing
Chongoing,China -Xinhua -3 Oct 2007: -- A bus fire that killed 27 people in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality on Tuesday had been an arson attack, local police said on Wednesday... Xiao Yonghua, a former employee of the company that operates the ill-fated Yutong bus, hid gasoline in his baggage before he got on the bus that left Wansheng district for downtown Chongqing at around 5:00 pm on Tuesday, said Wang Yunsheng, deputy head of the municipal public security bureau...

Labels: dangerous trips

23.6.07

* India - Heavy rain in Andhra Pradesh leaves 28 persons dead

The rainfall was so heavy, around 20 cm in many places, that it exceeded the cumulative total for the monsoon so far - Avanigadda in Krishna district recorded 32 cm followed by 26 cm in Karlapalem of Guntur district

Chennai,India -The Hindu -23 June 2007: -- ... High drama was witnessed in Kurnool district when an Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation bus carrying a large number of passengers was trapped in the middle of a swollen stream, Kannur Vagu, on the Nandyal-Kurnool National Highway... They were rescued in an elaborate operation and brought ashore using a heavy duty crane that pulled the bus out of the swiftly flowing waters. Passengers of three other RTC buses managed to reach the banks before water in the stream swelled. Similar incidents were reported from Karampudi in Guntur district and Thamballapalli in Chittoor district... (Picture - FLOOD FURY: Swirling waters engulf an Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation bus following flash floods on the Nandyal-Kurnool National Highway on Friday. All its passengers were, however, rescued)

Labels: dangerous trips

11.6.07

Fear of crime * UK - It's rising among bus passengers

Bus passengers are more worried about being robbed or attacked on their journey than they were three years ago

Reigate,Surrey,UK -ic SouthLondon.co.uk, by Robert Dex & Tobin Byers -Jun 8 2007: -- ... Researchers for the London Assembly's transport committee found the number of arrests made on buses has climbed steadily since 2004... There has also been an increase in code reds - emergency calls made by drivers - specifically about crime or antisocial behaviour... A spokesman for Transport for London (TfL) said this was partly because drivers had been encouraged to make the calls... The report, which was being discussed at yesterday's committee meeting at City Hall, says the removal of conductors and a lack of contact with drivers has made people feel less safe...

Labels: dangerous trips

12.4.07

DANGEROUS TRIPS * Sri Lanka - Truck and a passenger bus crash in Sri Lanka killing 19

Colombo,Sri Lanka -The Lanka Everything (London,Middlesex,UK)/ Reuters -10 April 2007: -- About 23 people killeds and 56 injureds, at least, when a beer truck and a passenger bus collided and caught fire in southern Sri Lanka, police said on Tuesday... "There was an accident between a passenger bus and a lorry transporting beer," said Jayantha Gamage, deputy inspector general for the Southern Province... The accident happened about 80 km (50 miles) south of the capital Colombo...

Labels: dangerous trips

19.2.07

DANGEROUS TRIPS

* India - Bus falls off bridge, three dead
Bhubaneswar,Jamshedpur,India -The Calcutta Telegraph (Calcutta,India) -Feb. 17, 2007: -- At least three persons were killed and 30 injured when a bus plunged into the Baitarani near Kurmanga in Kendujhar district, about 250 km from here, early this morning... There were about 50 passengers in the vehicle when it fell off the bridge trying to avoid a truck coming from the opposite direction...

* Brazil - 13 dead in bus crash
Sao Paulo,Brazil -News24 (Cape Town,South Africa)/Sapa/AP -17 Feb 2007: -- A bus passing a vehicle in a mountainous region of central Brazil crashed head-on into an oncoming truck, killing 13 people and injuring 23, police said on Saturday... The accident happened late on Friday near the historic city of Ouro Preto, about 800 kilometres northeast of Sao Paulo... The cause of the crash appeared to be driver error by the bus driver, he said...

Labels: dangerous trips

6.2.07

DANGEROUS TRIPS

* Pakistan - Buses Collide in held-Kashmir; 19 Killed
Srinagar,Pakistan -The Pakistan Times (Islamabad,Pak) -3 Feb 2007: -- At least 19 people were killed and 23 injured when two buses collided head on in India held-Kashmir on Friday... The accident occurred at a sharp bend in the mountainous district of Rajouri, 170 km northwest Jammu, local police Chief M. Anjum said... The cause of the accident was not immediately known... Accidents are frequent on Indian highways due to poor road conditions and careless driving. Buses in India held-Kashmir are often overcrowded and accidents on narrow mountainous roads are common as highway safety is neglected by drivers and poorly enforced by the authorities...

* China - Tour buses collide in southern, killing 13
Beijing,China -Xinhua News Agency -4 Feb 07: -- A tour bus traveling in the wrong lane on a highway in southern China plowed into an oncoming bus, killing 13 passengers and injuring 75... The violent collision occurred early Saturday in Hechi, a city in the impoverished Guangxi region... The bus traveling on the wrong side of the highway was carrying 41 people, while the other had 48 passengers. The accident was being investigated, but the police offered several possible scenarios for the wreck. The Guizhou bus might have blown a tire while accelerating to pass another vehicle, causing the coach to lose control in the oncoming lane, the officer said. The Guizhou bus driver might have fallen asleep because he had driven overnight, or there may have been a steering or brake failure, according to the officer...

Labels: dangerous trips

3.2.07

DANGEROUS TRIP * Philippines - 30 killed in bus-LPG truck explosion in Zambo del Sur

Tigbao,Zamboanga del Sur,Philippines -Balita.org (Minsterley,UK) -Feb 02 2007: -- At least 30 persons died when the bus they were riding passed by an overturned truck with exploding gas tanks at Barangay Lacupayan, Tigbao town in Zamboanga del Sur around 11:00 a.m. Friday... A flash report reaching the Western Mindanao Command said the tragedy occured when a truck loaded with liquified petroleum gas tanks turned turtle along the highway and caught fire... At that moment, a fully load bus of the RS Bus Transit passed by the burning overturned LPG truck and also caught fire...

Labels: dangerous trips