Metro buses were involved in more than 1,000 collisions last year — hundreds of which were deemed preventable or resulted in damages and injuries to riders, drivers and pedestrians, according to a Houston Chronicle analysis.
On average, that's nearly three accidents or fender benders each day.
Two accidents this year involved buses and Metro's light rail — both the result of bus drivers running red lights, authorities said. In one case, 19 people were injured, and in the other, nine.
And although such dramatic calamities are rare, collisions, injuries and traffic tickets are not.
The Chronicle's review of accidents, citations and breakdowns involving the Metropolitan Transit Authority's 1,210 buses documented a total of 1,029 wrecks last year.
Metro Police classified 338 of them as “preventable,” meaning the bus drivers involved could have taken measures to prevent the accidents; 220 caused at least $1,000 in damages or resulted in people ending up at hospitals.
Altogether, at least 334 people were injured in bus or light rail accidents last year, according to the National Transit Database maintained by the Federal Transit Administration.
“I looked at the data and how we stack up with other transit agencies; we are in the middle of the pack,” said Metro's newly appointed CEO and president, George Greanias. “Is that good? Yes. Is that what I would like it to be a year from now? No.”
Most tickets: speeding
Metro officials say drivers involved in a preventable accident are suspended for three days. A second accident in the same year results in a three- to five-day suspension, and with a third, “you're typically terminated,” said Andrew Skabowski, associate vice president for operations.
The Chronicle also looked at traffic tickets issued to on-duty bus drivers. In the past five years, drivers have gotten nearly 860 tickets for everything from improper left turns to driving at night without headlights.
The most common violations — 400 of them — were speed-related.
Among the others, 112 were for running red lights and 119 involved improper lane-changes. More than 170 drivers have had two or more violations; nine of them have had four or five.
The Chronicle's analysis also found nearly two-thirds of the tickets issued to bus drivers were dismissed. Records most often cite “Police officer not present.”
Other reasons include “insufficient evidence” or “defective complaint.”
“Police officers are sometimes ill, on vacation or required for duty on a trial date,” said Houston City Attorney David Feldman. “It's really a judgmental call made by the prosecutor if or not to try (the case) continuously if an officer or a witness doesn't show up in court.”
Skabowski said Metro doesn't require its drivers to report citations. Instead, it relies on the Department of Public Safety for ticket information: “We review that information, drilling down if it's our vehicle or not. It's difficult the way DPS' database is structured.”
The Chronicle, however, used Houston Municipal Court data to reach its findings.
“As you present the information, we may reach down into how we get information from the city of Houston, to allow us to get better information to improve our database,” Skabowski said.
A consumer lifeline
Every year, millions of people in Greater Houston ride the bus. Some of them are disabled, many are poor, others have either no car or no desire to drive one.
In the sprawling, fourth-largest city in America, Metro's bus system is as complex as it is essential. The taxpayer-supported system, which costs $558 million a year to run, is a consumer lifeline.
The buses clock 72 million passenger rides and 40 million revenue miles each year.
Metro says its safety record is better than many other systems of its size with similar miles traveled, but Greanias said he wants to shift the agency's focus to prevention.
“We've got a new administration in this place and want to try to create a new approach at Metro,” he said. “One thing I want to do is to get out of the curve, focus less on rules and discipline, and shift the balance to prevention, make sure we keep people at the top of the game.”
Every time there is an accident, even if it's minor and involves minor injuries or none at all, and each time a driver is stopped by police, people who depend on the are left late and waiting — or worse.
In March, a bus traveling on Liberty Road northeast of downtown rear-ended a car that had stopped for a pedestrian. The car's driver, Debra Chatman, said the bus was following so close behind her that it couldn't stop.
Metro Police determined the driver of the bus failed to control its speed, which caused the wreck, according to the police report.
In January, another Metro bus struck a downtown pedestrian near One Shell Plaza.
“They acted like the rules don't apply to them,” said Mary Drosche, whose husband was hit but not seriously injured. “I don't know how they train drivers. They sometimes don't know where to go. I always look behind when I walk down the street.”
Agapito Jaime, 66, was injured by a bus in the intersection of Capitol and South Wayside in September.
Jaime was crossing South Wayside in the crosswalk on a green light when a Metro bus made a left turn onto South Wayside and struck him. He was sent to Ben Taub General Hospital. Police determined the driver failed to yield.
“He has spent four or five thousand dollars on medical bills,” said Jaime's lawyer, Stephen Lekas, “We're expecting a jury trial if Metro doesn't pay for the necessary cost right away.”
On time, mostly
Metro claims an on-time performance of 67 percent, which means its buses are late roughly 30 percent of the time.
Similarly structured transit systems that have little or no significant rail services and rely heavily on buses, like those in Denver and Seattle, are at 88.6 percent and 77.1 percent, respectively.
Delays can be caused by traffic, which is not preventable, or by breakdowns, accidents and police citations, which often are.
More than 19,000 passengers lodged complaints against Metro last year, with one man complaining that his driver stopped often in the middle of a route and ran into McDonald's to eat.
“When you try to get somewhere on time, it's pretty frustrating,” James Kirkwood, a frequent bus patron, told a Chronicle reporter who also was riding the bus.
Another passenger told the Chronicle: “One day the bus was late already. It was supposed to arrive at 9:25 but it didn't until 10 to 10.” Then, “it stopped and (the) driver said the bus is malfunctioning,” said Charles Derbigny, who works downtown.
“We had to get off and wait for the next bus.”
Age of buses a factor
The Chronicle review found about half the Metro-operated buses broke down on their routes more than 15 times in 2009. More than 580 reported engine problems repeatedly.
“The odds that your schedule could be affected by mechanical problems” can have a lot to do with how old the buses are, explained Raequel Roberts, Metro's spokeswoman.
Two routes are especially troubled by mechanical issues. Nos. 163 and 52 had at least one problematic bus a day on average in 2009, according to the Chronicle analysis of Metro data.
The routes also are among the most heavily traveled.
Route 163 starts from the Missouri City Park & Ride, passes Fondren, parts of Bellaire and Hillcroft — an area with median household income ranging from $26,000 to $32,000 and a Latino population between 40 percent and 70 percent.
It's also the quickest bus route for people in the Sharpstown and Gulfton area to commute downtown.
Route 52 connects the east Little York area to downtown and continues south to South Acres, four miles beyond Loop 610.
Some 70 percent to 90 percent of the population is composed of African-Americans who have a median household income of less than $25,000 a year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
One man, Jay Greenberg, has made more complaints to Metro than any other passenger: a total of 289 online or by phone from December 2006 until May of last year, according to records provided by the transit authority.
“We are not financially able for a car,” said Greenberg, who takes Route 65 to work most days.
He thinks his complaints have helped: “The service has gotten better.”
His wife's woes, however, have not. She needs a wheelchair-compatible device to get on or off the bus.
“She was stuck on the bus a half-dozen times when the wheelchair ramp didn't work,” said Greenberg.
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