By Camas Frank ~
The crown jewel of the agency that runs the City’s bus network, SLO Transit’s $844,000 double-decker bus, is out of action for the next eight months.
SLO Transit manager Gamaliel Anguiano, said the 14 ft. high vehicle has been sent to a special facility in Las Vegas, Nev. for retrofit after two feet were sheered off its top in an accident Jan. 25.
Anguiano said he didn’t know how much the repairs would cost but that First Transit Inc., the City’s contractor for “bus service solutions” will take care of the work under their insurance policy.
All of SLO Transit’s drivers are contracted through company and, as far as investigators have determined, Anguiano said, it was pure human error on the part of a driver used to another route and another vehicle when he made the turn to go under the railroad bridge on Highland Drive on the Cal Poly Campus. The bridge has a clearance of 12.5 feet.
First Transit promptly fired the driver, who had been with the company for two years. Fortunately, the driver was alone on the bus at the time of the accident having been on a special detail ferrying overflow passengers to campus earlier. He was uninjured.
Putting an exact value on the damage is more difficult for SLO Transit than it is for an insurance company. The city primarily wanted the vehicle for its size and increased carrying capacity over the expected 12-year lifespan, or 500,000 miles.
If the bus were to run at full capacity with every trip the upper level would be a significant cost savings compared to running multiple traditional busses. There are still eight years left on that service life.
However, shortly before the accident took place, SLO Transit was already putting in place another daily tripper service to alleviate overcrowding on routes from the Downtown Center to Cal Poly.
With that infrastructure already in place, SLO Transit isn’t expecting any further issue making up the slack for losing the Double-Decker. In order to prevent similar accidents when the bus returns First Transit is looking at making upgrades to the bus itself, namely video cameras with screens for an upper level view available to the driver, as well as increased training and a review of all the routes that the bus is assigned to.
