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Friday, June 5, 2009

News Breaking News: Bus Ride Bumpy

Posted by Dominic Holden on Fri, Jun 5, 2009 at 11:30 AM

A Metro Transit bus traveling north on Interstate 5 on Thursday morning swayed so severely that some passengers were thrown from their seats.

The Route 941 bus was heading from the Star Lake Park-and-Ride toward Tukwila in the HOV lane when it began swaying at around 7 a.m., passenger Sue Callahan said. ...

Callahan said the swaying was so severe that passengers feared the bus would tip and land on its side. The swaying went on, she said, for 15 to 30 seconds.

Read the whole story in the Seattle Times.

Comments (10) RSS

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This happens all the time on #312 and #306 going north on I-5. It can be pretty scary, but I didn't know it was news-worthy.

Posted by tabletop_joe on June 5, 2009 at 11:49 AM

That's one huge advantage of fixed rail over the bus: the bus is really rickety. I hate having to stand up on the bus; on the train I don't care.

Posted by keshmeshi on June 5, 2009 at 11:53 AM

hmmm...I wonder if Metro has been leaning on their drivers to keep to the schedule. I've encountered a couple of psycho bus drivers lately who drive like madmen/women down Denny.

Posted by michael strangeways

on June 5, 2009 at 11:57 AM

Do they pay their writers for this kind of investigative research?

Posted by BombasticMO

on June 5, 2009 at 11:59 AM

With this sort of reporting I can't understand why newspapers are in trouble!

Posted by Cato the Younger Younger on June 5, 2009 at 12:04 PM

The dual-mode benders that Metro used to run out of the tunnel would do that all the time. A tap on the brakes usually stopped the swaying.

Posted by Toe Tag on June 5, 2009 at 1:04 PM

Had the same thing happen on a 21 express about 3 weeks ago - everyone was upset at the driver, who seemed to be driving aggressively. The driver insisted that it is a known problem within Metro with the suspensions on one of the brands of buses (Gillig?).

Posted by asdf on June 5, 2009 at 1:20 PM

A slight jerk of the wheel causes a sway and then the intensity slowly builds if the driver does not decelerate -- not exactly newsworthy unless it tips IMO.

Is this self-feeding "flutter" the same concept of aeroelasticity that destroyed the Tacoma Narrows Bridge?
Anyone with a knowledge of physics care to provide some insight here?

Posted by Kid Curious on June 5, 2009 at 2:42 PM

Of course, if Dominic or, God forbid, Erica had been on that bus we would have had a 20-paragraph, first-person Slog diatribe about the horror. Since it happened to somebody else...

Posted by bigyaz on June 5, 2009 at 2:52 PM

@9: Really? Cause I think this has happened to most people who ride the bus on a regular basis, so I kind of think it probably *has* happened to both Domenic and Erica.

Posted by Lee on June 5, 2009 at 11:07 PM