GoBus has been operating since November 2011, yet this was the first major accident with injuries, Carolyn Conley, GoBus coordinator, said.
After a GoBus traveling between Cleveland and Athens overturned in Akron on March 27, GoBus officials said the incident was the first with injuries for the company.
The cause of the overturned vehicle appears to be driver error, Carolyn Conley, GoBus coordinator, said Wednesday in an email, though the cause is still under investigation. Corrective action has yet to be determined within the company, she said.
“GoBus has an excellent safety record,” Conley said in an email. “We have run over 2 million (miles) with only a few minor incidences.”
GoBus is a rural intercity bus program with routes that connect Athens to other cities in Ohio, according to its website. The company has been operating since November 2010, Conley said.
The March 27 incident near the University of Akron caused two out of the eight people on board to be hospitalized with minor injures, according to a previous Post report.
Conley said that 2014 and 2015 MCI J4500 coaches, the models used by GoBus, are not prone to tipping. She said the accident in Akron was a “very unusual occurrence.”
The 2014 MCI J4500 bus involved in the incident has 187,000 miles on it and is one of eight buses owned by the company, Conley said.
“This mileage is very low,” she said in an email. “These types of buses are designed to run a million miles.”
Colin Cavanaugh, a freshman studying education, rode on a GoBus to Columbus Thursday afternoon and said he was not aware of the incident in Akron.
“I’ve ridden with this (bus driver) before,” Cavanaugh said. “I’m not nervous. ... You can’t blame the actions of an entire company on one person.”
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Other students said they would still ride GoBus despite the incident.
“Accidents happen, don’t they?” Laura Dawson, a junior studying psychology, said. “It’s a convenient way and cheap way to get to the airport. I would definitely ride it.”
A one-way GoBus ticket on the Cleveland to Athens route costs $25, according to the company's website.
Dawson said what happened was unfortunate but is just as likely to occur in a car.
Kayli Francisco, a senior studying sociology-criminology and psychology, said the incident sounded like a “freak thing.”
“I think I would probably still take (GoBus) if I had to,” Francisco said. “That was the only way for me to get home for a solid two years.”
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