A Scary Moment

I started riding the bus back in March 2003. I was on the On The Job Training program that St. Paul Public Schools were offering. However, at that time, I had a job that would require me to work at night. So what would I do? I went home at 11:00am. In order for me to get there, I would have to take Metro Transit home since the school didn't offer school bus service to where ever.

Since then I have experienced a lot of different life on the bus (one story is posted on a previous blog), I have experienced new relationships with drivers (at least the St. Paul drivers), and the most interesting people one can find. People puking (on and off the bus), fights at bus stops, bums, business people, arguments, listening to very interesting conversations (whether it was face to face or on a cell phone). There are many more experiences that I experienced but can't think of them right now. One thing I never experienced was being involved in an accident. (Obviously this is one thing that no one wants to experience.)

Today that changed. I was on my way to Minneapolis to make another connection with another bus to take me to Mahtomedi. I was going to take an express bus to Minneapolis but I noticed that a friend of mine was driving the Route 50 line (a limited stop route from Downtown St. Paul to Downtown Minneapolis via University Ave, Washington Ave & the U of M area). I wasn't in a big rush at the time to get there so I decided to take the Route 50 bus. After the bus picked up all it's downtown St. Paul customers, the bus was crossing Cedar Street & 12th Street when someone crashed into the side of the bus.

This was my observation of what happened: The bus was heading north on Cedar Street when the light turned yellow, just as the bus was getting to the corner. Seeing the bus wasn't going to stop, the light turned red while the bus was in the intersection. I so happened to look behind me (if you know Metro Transit, I was on a low-floor articulated - accordion style - bus), I saw a car, who was heading west on 12th Street (I'm assuming this person was going to get on either 94 West or 35E South) crashed right into the side of the bus at great speed. I was sitting in the front of the bus, right next to the front wheel, where the crash happened. I don't know if this person hit the brakes or what but it wasn't a good situation. Quite the scary moment.

After the bus made a stop in front of a National Guard building on Cedar Street & Columbus Street, I, along with a few others, ran to the scene of the crash, where one lady was holding her arm. When I got there, one person was on the phone with the cops and National Guard members tending to the injured lady on the sidewalk.

Moments later, the scene was covered with the Metro Transit & St. Paul Police Departments, the City fire department, more National Guard members, witnesses and on-lookers. While most everyone took the next bus and move on to their destination, I along with a few others stayed on the scene, to give the Metro Transit Police & Supervisors our observations on what happened. For the second time in less than 2 weeks, I was dealing with the police.

The lady who was in the car sustained, probably sustained a broken arm, had some cuts on there chin and a bloody mouth. Three people complained about pain in their necks (but as we all know, most of the time, these people are looking to make a buck). I escaped any type of injury, even though I felt the impact of the crash. There was about 15 - 20 people total on the bus at the time. Thankfully, it looks like everyone is going to be okay and get a full recovery from this accident.

What's going to happen? I know that the driver will most likely be put on paid administrative leave while the investigation rolls on and given a drug & alcohol test (which from my understanding is normal procedure). The police will review the tapes from the bus and from the National Guard and go from there.

As I said, I'm a 6 year "veteran" of Metro Transit. I have developed and maintained friendships with the drivers (as I said, mainly out of East Metro Garage in St. Paul). Many drivers have told me that the makers of the buses made them so they wouldn't sustain major damage. Guess they were right. It left a few scratch marks and dents on the bus but will be drivable in the future. The car is a complete loss though.

By no means was I defending my friend in this. I gave the police and supervisors what I believed to be an accurate description of what happened. But as we all know, surveillance cameras do not lie and I could be wrong.

I don't know who was at fault in this accident but it is a reoccurring reminder that we - whether your a bus driver, a driver in a private vehicle, a biker or pedestrian - have to look out for others. As we all know, there are stupid people out there that are not paying attention.

Eventually, I got to the bus I needed. I needed Route 270E (from Downtown Minneapolis to Mahtomedi via 35W North, Highway 36 & Maplewood Mall) to Mahtomedi where I was meeting someone. While on the bus, I thought the same thing was going to happen. A couple of close calls, one on Central Ave & 2nd Ave SE and one on Highway 36 & Cleveland Ave. I'm already on edge because of the earlier accident. I kept thinking to myself: "Today is the second time in less than two weeks I've dealt with the Metro Transit Police; I don't want to deal with them twice in one day."

Though out the remainder of the day/early evening, every time the bus hit it's brakes for any reason, I got his uneasy feeling in my stomach, therefore making me look out the window and thinking the bus was going to hit something.

PS. The first time I dealt with the Metro Transit police was on Metro Transit Route 54 (a limited stop bus from the Mall of America to Downtown St. Paul via the MSP Airport and West 7th St) on Saturday, April 11th. This time I was dealing with a mother assaulting and shaking her 4 year old son on the bus. I stayed back to file police reports on what I saw.