ARTICLES

5/16/2014· Automotive - Vehicular

Buses and Motorcoaches: Directing the Students Across

By: Ned Einstein

At the rudimentary level at which most crossing procedures are executed, schoolbus drivers are supposed to "direct" the students across the roadway when they are certain that either the traffic has been stopped in both directions or it is so distant (if even visible) that the students could easily complete their crossing before any oncoming vehicles reach the bus. The bus would obviously have its red flashers and stop arm engaged as a "fail safe."

10/25/2023· Transportation

Non-Emergency Medical Transportation (NEMT) Service and Wheelchair Tipovers

By: Ned Einstein

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that every wheelchair securement position have some type of floor hardware – and even specifies its longitudinal and lateral spacing (49 CFR 38.23(d)(2). It also requires that every position contain three sets of tie-downs – although the clear, irrefutable industry standard is four.

1/31/2014· Transportation

Buses and Motorcoaches: Humps and Bumps

By: Ned Einstein

I have often written about the impacts of overly-tight schedules as the primary causative factor in incidents - in fact, the underlying cause of perhaps half of them. Because speeding is one of the "cures" to this problem, one of its characteristics is the failure to slow down when the roadway surface is not, as jazz musicians say, "melody." One of the most common scenarios is to cruise over speed bumps and speed humps. Another is to fail to slow over rugged terrain, particularly potholes and the often dysfunctional patches that sloppy road crews create to "repair" them.

2/26/2013· Transportation

Buses and Motorcoaches: Alcohol and Public Policy

By: Ned Einstein

Alcohol and bus ridership present a curious enigma. As a matter of public policy, we allow intoxication. As a matter of free market dynamics, we encourage it. And rightfully so, we want to protect those intoxicated from hurting themselves and others.

8/16/2018· Transportation

Safety Compromises, Part 8: Boarding and Alighting

By: Ned Einstein

Given the mass of a bus or motorcoach, the carnage a moving bus or coach can inflict on a pedestrian is not surprising. Yet readers may be surprised by the carnage such a vehicle can cause when it is not moving - or just beginning to move or come to a stop.

11/9/2018· Transportation

Safety Compromises, Part 11: Wheelchair and Passenger Securement

By: Ned Einstein

As with most things, the ADA requirement to make all new motorcoaches purchased after 2001 wheelchair-accessible, and the 2015 ruling to install three-point occupant restraint systems, introduced an entirely new spectrum of safety, liability and social concerns to the motorcoach industry. But a couple of responses to these requirements, particularly by one OEM and one supplier, have opened up a whole new set of opportunities for savvy motorcoach operators.

1/14/2019· Transportation

The Folly of Fake Facts

By: Ned Einstein

Thankfully, mowing down pedestrians in a crosswalk is not yet commonplace. But it is also not rare. This incident scenario is most common to transit buses making left turns (see "The Danger Deterrent," NATIONAL BUS TRADER, April 2016) But it happens occasionally with almost every transportation mode. Yet the defenses almost always cited by the drivers are no match for someone with a high school diploma.

7/23/2018· Transportation

Safety Compromises, Part 7: Stopping on the Wrong Side of the Intersection

By: Ned Einstein

For each route in each direction, transit stops are almost always located on one side of an intersection, not both. Stops just before the intersection are referred to as 'near-side' stops. Those just after the intersection are referred to as 'far-side' stops.

9/5/2018· Transportation

Safety Compromises, Part 9: Rolling Turns and Sharp Turns

By: Ned Einstein

It might seem obvious that a bus driver would know how to properly turn a vehicle with a long wheelbase. Yet it is surprising how many are not taught to. More interesting, bus drivers often do not have the time to.

4/16/2020· Transportation

Safety and Liability: Motorcoach Survival in the Age of COVID-19 (Part 1)

By: Ned Einstein

I would normally begin a series by exploring the origin of the problems. These would have included four decades of failure in multiple sectors of public transportation. Among its fellow modes, the motorcoach industry created the fewest of these failures. But the motorcoach industry has been limited in its capabilities...