Bee-Line Bus Slams Into Yonkers Store

[tommyguy 104]

Monday morning (02/03/14) a Bee-Line No. 30 bus skidded in slushy snow as it turned left off Lockwood Avenue onto Saw Mill River Road in Yonkers. The bus mounted the sidewalk at 307 Saw Mill River Road and slammed into the front of the Saw Mill Deli. The bus was en route from Bronxville to Getty Square. Yonkers Police and Fire Departments responded. Four people on the bus suffered minor injuries. The two employees in the store at the time were unhurt.

The Yonkers FD Collapse Unit responded along with other companies. There was significant damage to the store but thankfully no collapse.

News link with video

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[wedgeclose 59]

As a former MTA bus driver...no doubt the driver was not at fault. Once those things start skidding on a hill only God knows where it will end up. Poor job clearing the hill especially that one with all the slush at the bottom it was an accident waiting to happen. Hope the driver was not hurt. Keep the "wheels on the bus go round and round...round and round.....oops....skid skid skid...all day long"

[tommyguy 104]

I used to commute to work from Tarrytown to my job in Elmsford via Bee-Line buses. Early one very cold morning, a couple days after a snowfall of five or six inches, when I boarded my bus at Tarrytown train station the driver looked a tad pale! I liked him, I rode with him all the time. He was an older guy a couple of years away from retirement. He had been operating a bus for many years since immigrating from Ireland. Very nice man.

Anyway, when I got on board the bus I asked him if he was okay? He shook his head. He said, "Yeah I got shaken up."

What had happened was, as he was operating the inbound trip to Tarrytown the bus had done a 360 degree spin! He had been going west on Rt. 119 and turned right at the intersection with Rt. 9. As soon as he turned, he said, the bus took off into a circular skid. I thought, wow! I said to him, I didn't think these buses skidded, I thought they were too heavy.

I can still remember him looking at me and saying very seriously, "Oh but they do! When I turned the wheel the bus took off, it went right around." He made a circling motion with his hand. "Scared the devil out of me!" The bus had done a 360 degree spin in the intersection but it was early, around 6:30 AM with very light traffic and luckily he didn't hit any cars.

I rode the buses in all kinds of weather and the operators do a great job. I never had a problem. Never got stuck in the snow, never had a bus skid while I was on it. I don't think the bus operators get enough credit.

[sympathomedic 383]

I have always wanted to say something about the b line drivers and this seems like a good place.

I been doing Yonkers EMS for 25 years. These guys always seem to have their eyes and ears open for our trucks. They always move over for us. I can imagine the extra 40 feet of bus between them and us and the ambient noise on board would make hearing us much harder, but they yield right away, consistantly.

I once had a female b-line driver having excrutiating abdomenal pain. She WOULD NOT leave that seat until a b-line supervisor arrived to take control of her bus.

My hat is off to these drivers for their skills in sharing the crowded roads of Yonkers.

[Bnechis 3,961]

I once had a female b-line driver having excrutiating abdomenal pain. She WOULD NOT leave that seat until a b-line supervisor arrived to take control of her bus.

Like a good ship captain, she went down with her bus

[R1SmokeEater 359]

I have always wanted to say something about the b line drivers and this seems like a good place.

I been doing Yonkers EMS for 25 years. These guys always seem to have their eyes and ears open for our trucks. They always move over for us. I can imagine the extra 40 feet of bus between them and us and the ambient noise on board would make hearing us much harder, but they yield right away, consistantly.

I once had a female b-line driver having excrutiating abdomenal pain. She WOULD NOT leave that seat until a b-line supervisor arrived to take control of her bus.

My hat is off to these drivers for their skills in sharing the crowded roads of Yonkers.

I'm gonna chime in too. I always comment, on how the BeeLine drivers are the only drivers on the road that do what they are supposed to do for an emergency vehicle! They always put on their hazard lights, yield, and then stop for approaching Fire apparatus. A big Thank You to the drivers for that!

The assignment to the bus into the deli was:

E-312. TL-75. Battalion-2. Rescue-1. S/C E-314 W/Collapse rig (SQ-11 was out) S/C E-310 for additional manpower, shoring operations underway.

Edited February 6, 2014 by R1SmokeEater

[swat517 2]

you know, I didnt notice any bee line buses with chains on their tires this winter.