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Megabus double deck coach slams into low rail bridge, 4 killed.


metsfan

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I'm 5' 9" and the 2nd level of a DD bus = head bumper. They need to be a bit taller to accomodate even average height people. I'm no expert, but I just don't think I'd want to ride them on the highway.

 

The bus is already 13 feet tall. It can't be any taller without being an oversized vehicle. And for the record, I'm 6 feet tall and it's a tight fit but once I have those two seats to myself, I don't mind.

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Sitting down is not the problem. But I should not have to duck to avoid bumping my head on the ceiling - and I'm talking about the aisle. That or they should have the lower level a bit shorter to accomodate the upper level.

 

Thank you!!! I'm 6'3 so you know I REALLY have to duck to get in that bus!!! Those buses was a terrible thing to buy, they should have stuck with the D4505s

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Sorry yea, 10 feet, i think i was thinking the bus was 12 feet, not sure, was awake a long, long time when i made that reply post.

 

In any case, yea, that road is meant for automobiles, the right of way was obviously built long before tall motorized vehicles existed in any large numbers. There are a lot of such low clearance areas all over the place, in fact there's a 12.4 foot clearance not too far from my house under a bridge on the newtown line. School busses can fit fine, but not semi trucks. It's also over a slight dip in the road, not good for long vehicles. The road isn't a heavy thoroughfare anyways, so the bridge height doesn't matter all that much, but if the line were to be re-activated they might as well jack it up 2 feet to let trucks pass under.

 

- A

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  • 2 weeks later...
nope, read somewhere he was clean, i dont see how a Double Decker could have such a poor record what should of been done is as soon as the bus goes off course the bus "shuts" down , just like in Ottawa our double decker's, if they go off course the bus essentially " turns off " and the staff is alerted so there is no mis-haps ( i .e injuries or even death )

 

Just so you know our Double deckers do not Auto shutoff if they go off course but a Alarm on the Gps unit does go off when a Low level bridge is detected

 

i was on a <6>1 one day and the driver missed his turn so he slowed down and called it in and was advised to turn around at Baseline and Lincoln fields stn to get back on route.

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Just so you know our Double deckers do not Auto shutoff if they go off course but a Alarm on the Gps unit does go off when a Low level bridge is detected

 

i was on a <6>1 one day and the driver missed his turn so he slowed down and called it in and was advised to turn around at Baseline and Lincoln fields stn to get back on route.

 

oo ok thanks i heard somewhere the bus would shut off, makes more sense what you said instead of it shuting off lol

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Driver fatigue. He probably didn't get a decent night's sleep and wasn't paying attention. After all, the accident happened at 2:30 AM.

 

230AM your mind is telling you its time for sleep because of the dark... This is why I got off of graveyard shift. because I had trouble going to sleep when i got off and ended up with almost no sleep at all for the next night of work. And with not enough sleep driving a bus full of passengers it does start to mess with you. Your feet/arms start to feel like jello. And pessing brakes/gas starts to feel like weight lifting. The turn you could have not missed easliy in the daytime becomes a challenge in the middle of the night. I missed a few turns before since I am still not good with all the rds in South Jersey but being on graveyard it was more of a challenge.

 

Anyways I think that driver was more tired then anything. He seen the signs but the fact it was 230AM, he thought the rd prolly would dipp right before the bridge and took the chance. Some rds with low bridges the rd dipps which in some cases gives an extra few inches.

 

All in all, MegaBus needs to get rid of those DDs, because they did not have to deal with this with the 4505s. After All how many Bus Companies on the East Coast have DDs.

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