Accident reports optional for buses

Monday, August 11, 2014

NEW YORK — Companies that run New York City’s growing armada of double-decker sightseeing buses, like the ones involved in last week’s Times Square crash, have no legal obligation to report accidents to the city agency that licenses them.

The Consumer Affairs Department — one of at least five entities involved in regulating the brightly colored behemoths — disclosed the loophole with The Associated Press as scrutiny of the buses intensified following the crash that injured 14 people Tuesday.

Spokesman Abby Lootens said city law does not require companies to report accidents to the department.

An aide to City Council transportation chairman Ydanis Rodriguez called the news “troubling” and said they would look into remedying it. This week Rodriguez proposed revoking city-issued licenses from companies whose drivers rack up multiple violations.

The lack of mandatory accident reporting is one of several critical gaps in the amalgam of agencies governing the city’s booming sightseeing bus industry.

The police department, for one, lumps all buses in the same category on accident reports that go to state agencies involved in licensing drivers and inspecting the vehicles.

The state Transportation Department analyzes the reports but cannot quantify their accidents because of the broad categorization, spokesman Beau Duffy said.