Photo by Chris Louie.
A public bus without a driver slid downhill at the busy intersection 96th street and West End Avenue around 3 p.m. on Wednesday, smashing into a parked car, which then hit other cars. Luckily no one was injured; an MTA spokesman called it “a Christmas miracle.”
There were no passengers in the bus, which had reached the end of the line, and the driver had hopped out without properly securing the vehicle, ABC News reported. It had been raining for most of the day and the roads were very slick.
Chris Louie, who was in his car at the intersection, told us the driver made a mad dash to chase the bus and unsuccessfully tried to climb in. “The bus came out of nowhere,” he wrote. The intersection is right next to PS 75, which had recently let out, Louie noted, and if the light hadn’t been red it “would have killed kids.” ABC News also noted there’s a large oil tank right near the spot where the collision occurred too.
We asked if the driver would be disciplined, but the MTA spokesman said the incident was “under investigation.”
This note is for Steve et al who love the WEA redesign at WEA & 96…
Happy Holidays!
And one wonders if any kvetcheroos, seeing the bus roll past, loudly protested, “Look, look; again the darned bus didn’t stop for me!…this city is terrible…the mayor is terrible…everything’s terrible…except me”
miracle???
“MTA spokesman called it “a Christmas miracle…the driver had hopped out without properly securing the vehicle”
The miracle is how this driver wasn’t fired.
This is a cute “Angry Taxpayer Shaking My Fist” comment that makes no sense. If the driver is found at fault he/she will be fired.
why do you expect people to actually know facts, nor how the system actually works? it’s easier to just Shake Your Fist.
When has anyone ever heard of an MTA bus driver being fired????
Many years ago my husband and I were waiting on a red light at the same intersection when a car parked uphill toward Broadway started rolling downhill. It passed through the normally very busy intersection of West End Ave. and 96th, rolled past PS75 and only stopped up at an uphill stretch near the highway. No one hurt. Another miracle!
When will the driverless bus program be in full swing? Is google involved?
Who knew that the Vision Zero initiative meant literally ZERO (driver)!!!
Somehow this must have been the work of those dang rogue cyclists, the true existential threat to UWS pedestrians…