Schumer Wants Bus Safety Grades Posted On Windshields

NEW YORK, NY — Sen. Chuck Schumer is proposing that buses display their safety ratings in the windshield of their vehicle, much like restaurants in New York City display their health department ratings in the front window of their storefront.

The Democratic senator suggested the update on Sunday in the wake of a deadly bus accident in Queens. Last month, a charter bus drove through a Queens intersection and crashed into another bus, killing the driver and two others and injuring at least 16 more people. The bus driver, who worked for the Dahlia bus company, had previously been convicted for driving under the influence and had been fired by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Schumer says that a federal law already on the books could be used to require bus companies to post their safety ratings in the front windshield, where passengers could easily see them. He argued that a bus company like Dahlia, which had multiple safety violations before the crash, would be moved to improve its safety rating were its letter grade posted visibly.

"On the heels of the terrible Dahlia crash and new information that shows there are other bad actors out on the streets, some worse than Dahlia, your gut reaction is to ask what more can be done to prevent these kinds of crashes and improve the culture of safety," Schumer said in a statement. "But in this case, we have a law I passed in 2012 that can not only help solve this problem, but can better inform the public, too."

Schumer called on the federal government to mandate that bus companies display safety information more visibly for travelers.

A review of charter buses in New York City released last week showed that Dahlia had numerous safety violations, and that the company ranked in the top 10 worst operators. The review, released by multiple senators in the New York State Senate, also faulted companies that operate in Manhattan's Chinatown neighborhood, which has been at the epicenter of a dispute over the safety of charter buses. The Massachusetts-based Yep Tours, which pick up in Chinatown, was found to be the second worst operator in the New York State Senate review. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

Image credit: Spencer Platt / Staff / Getty Images News