This is totally old news, but for the sake of completeness, I'm recording it here.
Fung Wah told a blind couple that they couldn't come on the bus because no pets allowed and they had a guide dog.
Arguably, Fung Wah was doing the couple a favor, given the company's safety record. However, you just can't do that.
The Fung Wah Bus Company had another mishap this morning when one of its coaches got stuck on a curb in front of a tollbooth on the Massachusetts Turnpike in Weston, police said.
There's not much more detail to the story than that, but the article has a recap of the previous recent incidents.
It's snowy and probably icy here today.
No one hurt as Fung Wah bus crashes on Pike
A Fung Wah bus carrying 35 passengers crashed into a guardrail at the Allston-Brighton tolls today on the westbound Massachusetts Turnpike. Though the bus had to be towed from the scene, no one was injured.
Just. Don't. Do. It. Ok? How many accidents does it take?
Fung Wah Bus Loses Wheels:
About 30 passengers were taken for quite a ride Wednesday morning when the bus they were riding on lost two wheels on the Massachusetts Turnpike...
...The bus driver told police he felt something in the rear and then pulled over.
"Nothing, this is nothing," the driver said in halting English.
I have nothing to add. I should post my December Greyhound horror story though, to be fair.
A Fung Wah bus rolled over en route from Boston to NYC yesterday.
No one died, but thirty-five people were injured.
"A preliminary investigation reveals that speed was a factor in the accident."
Since it rolled over all by itself, just "attempting to exit off Route 290", that seems likely.
I know many people are still ardent believers, but the evidence continues to mount.
Just bought my bus ticket for tomorrow. I roll with Greyhound and Peter Pan—you won't find me on the Chinatown bus.
The Greyhound confirmation screen says this:
You must print ticket(s) at home or work. Please print only one ticket per page, do not print on the back of the paper. Proceed directly to the gate. Board your bus at the following station no later than one hour prior to the scheduled departure time.
(emphasis in the original)
I have to print my tickets at work or at home? What in the world are they talking about? I might be a rebel and print it at a friend's house, just to see what happens.
Quackenbush, who uses the bus to commute between work locations, said this will not deter him from taking the bus again. In fact, it will have just the opposite effect, he said.
''What are the odds of this happening again?" he said. ''Now I'm safe."
Hey Quackenbush, you should be reading my blog. It's not been 5 months since the last incident.
It happened again on Tuesday.
Shockingly, given the fares they charge, they are not responding to requests from people regarding insurance and medical issues.
When the bus finally arrived at Fung Wah offices on Canal Street in Manhattan late Tuesday, passengers said, the lights in the tiny office were turned off and women working the ticket counter told them to come back the next day.
In fairness, apparently the March 18 bus was not Fung Wah, but Travel Pack, which also goes from Chinatown to Chinatown.
Once they arrived at Fung Wah's New York location, ''we went up and knocked on the door, and there were clearly people in there, and they just shook their heads no," Holliday said.
Can you imagine? You just had to evacuate a burning bus, and the employees of the company responsible "just shook their heads no"? Haunted by the notion...
Explain how some companies can charge $15 for a bus ride that other companies charge $40+ for.
Catching up on old papers a bit tonight. Somehow I missed this little story, about a certain Chinatown bus that caught on fire.
The Chinatown buses are one of the great gambles one can take while living in Boston. They go from Boston to New York City, for $15. By comparison, a Greyhound/Peter Pan bus is around $40 usually, for the same trip.
A rational consumer is left to wonder, How the hell is that possible? There are some small differences---the non-Chinatown buses are a bit cleaner and less crowded. But, most of those small differences exist between the Peter Pan and the Greyhound buses, and those buses cost the same (you don't even know which one you're getting till it rolls up to the station). Peter Pan buses even show movies. So, these small details do not account for the price difference.
Safety seems to be one area where costs can be cut. At least that's the fear. To be fair, I haven't heard of many incidents. But it's always a nagging fear every time I contemplate a Chinatown bus. I've gone with Greyhound in the past mostly for crowd reasons. If you're going to go to NYC at a popular time to go to NYC, you better show up real early and wait in line if you want a seat on the $15 bus.
So, on March 18 a Chinatown bus caught on fire on the Mass. Pike. The driver realized it was going to catch on fire---he pulled over and got everyone off the bus before it burst into flames. No one was hurt. Probably, though, some of their shit got burnt. The Globe article also recapped the 2001 crash in Canada of a Chinatown company bus that did kill 4 middle school students.
I've heard some other horror stories, about drivers backing down the expressway after missing the exit, etc. I guess "that bus that caught on fire" will just get filed under the "How the fsck are these buses so cheap?" area of my memory.