At approximately 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Amherst police and fire units responded to an accident on North Pleasant St. after a Pioneer Valley Transit Authority bus drove into the lawn of the University of Massachusetts Institute for Holocaust, Genocide and Memory Studies.
The bus was traveling northbound on the 31 route, passing through the rotary at the intersection of North Pleasant St. and Governors Drive when the vehicle crossed over the rotary barrier into oncoming traffic, slowly pulling over the sidewalk and onto the grass.
A University of Massachusetts Police Department officer responding to the accident said the unidentified student bus driver experienced a “medical emergency” while driving. First-responders treated the driver on the scene before taking him away in an ambulance. No passengers were injured.
“When he veered into oncoming traffic… people were pretty calm,” said Kylie LaBianca, a junior biochemistry and molecular biology major taking the bus at the time of the accident. “There were a few guys on the bus like, ‘Whoa dude, you okay there?’”
Passengers said that before the accident, the driver pulled over on North Pleasant St. and exited the vehicle for approximately 10 minutes.
“I thought they were just exchanging bus drivers because they do that from time to time at stops,” said Benjamin Guzman, a senior finance major onboard, who described the bus as “packed.”
Anthony Butler, a senior mechanical engineering major, exited the stopped bus and noticed the driver kneeling by the vehicle’s back right wheel in the moments before the accident. “I didn’t know what he was doing,” Butler said.
Butler described the driver fidgeting and touching his hair, saying he “seemed a little off.”
“We’re hoping he’s okay. We’re glad we’re okay,” added LaBianca.
The Amherst police and fire departments, as well as representatives from the PVTA, were unable to respond to requests for comment at the time of reporting.
Sophie Hauck can be reached at [email protected] and @SophieBHauck on Twitter. Jack Underhill can be reached at [email protected] and @jackunderhill16 on Twitter.
Dr. Ed • Oct 10, 2022 at 12:29 pm
The other question is if he got an in-state waiver for a medical condition.
Dr. Ed • Oct 10, 2022 at 11:55 am
This is serious because once the driver stopped and got out of the bus, there no longer was any “maybe” about fitness for service. This is particularly true if he called dispatch.
He’s also is supposed to have an annual physical that looks for stuff like this — UHS is going to have some problems too.
As this was an actual “accident”, my guess is that the NTSB will review this. Could be interesting.
UMass Transit is a product of the 1970s, buses are now Federally-regulated with the Al Byam days long over.
Christopher • Oct 15, 2022 at 6:03 pm
To my knowledge, they use Occu-Health in Hadley for their DOT physicals and drug testing. They were an interesting operation. They were pretty strict about the certification process, but I knew of people who went and found doctors to write full time med cards for people with some pretty serious conditions. They had a few medical accidents during my time there, one was a heart attack, and the other was a primary sleep disorder, which staff routinely coaches people to lie about to Occu Health. Their highest seniority trainer who still works there to my knowledge, bragged about getting his sleep apnea diagnosis “by the dragon lady” at Occu Health. People routinely tested positive for drugs, and it’s standard policy to give a second chance. There were so many safety and work culture issues that happened in the post Al and Jeri Baker environment. Ultimately, the University doesn’t feel like properly funding the needed staff for that place, so they’ll continue to work students ragged until something happens.
Christopher • Oct 7, 2022 at 11:29 am
Honestly, I’m not surprised in the least bit about this. Maybe the internal employee culture of fear and distrust that I experienced while I was there in my last five years has changed, but it probably hasn’t. It comes from the top down, including the need to change the core functions and terms of being “Student Staff.” Basically there needed to be more full time oversight of that place and some stronger full time employees in management, particularly like Jeri who had a complete outside perspective and brought that to the table. The over reliance of student staff to run that place is just calling for this sort of thing to happen. I won’t name names, but I remembered hearing mocking and swearing about student drivers calling out of their shifts by stressed student staffers having to pick up the slack for full time employees who were bare bones as it was, and not really good at their jobs. I was a student staffer at one point and got a bit of the inside scoop as to what goes on there. They generally over assign people shifts for the semester under the pretense that they can always open them for academic commitments and health reasons, but it often turns out to not be the case. A person who is currently still in a student staff position challenges nearly every instance of this and creates a difficult work environment. I hear there is another shift canceling driver shortage there, probably caused by this toxic internal atmosphere acting in a never ending negative feedback loop. I was a trainer there for over a decade and can point to numerous systemic issues that start at training and and continued organization wide. I recommend a total change of leadership, and less reliance on student staff to run the place.
I witnessed a bunch of undertraining and rushing of new employees through training during these stressful driver shortages that in my nearly 16 years as a trainer felt was dangerous. I’m honestly surprised an event like Uconn, where the kid was run over by a bus driver who was driving at night was fatigued and ran over a fellow student. I witness people pulling all-nighters there and being disciplined for calling out of shifts. I’m very concerned.
Anonymous • Oct 10, 2022 at 11:33 am
Sadly, this does not surprise me.
I hold a CDL-B with P and chose not to work there when I was a student.
Christopher • Oct 15, 2022 at 5:46 pm
Honestly, I’m not surprised. Many people I trained quit after being treated poorly by student staff because they weren’t part of the club.
Z • Oct 12, 2022 at 10:51 pm
I don’t know when you worked there or if you even did, but I am currently a bus driver, van driver, and van dispatcher at transit. None of what you said reflects the current environment there. Even with the driver shortage, I have not once heard an RO, supervisor, or any other employee say anything about a driver who calls off. Even no-shows are handled calmly and professionally. I have never been scheduled more hours than I requested on a permanent schedule, and I have never been pressured to take a shift, or confronted for having one opened. My dispatchers and supervisors have also been very forgiving whenever I’ve been late or had to make a last minute call-out. I also have not heard of any stories from other drivers dealing with something like what you said either. Every student staff member we have currently have been doing a fantastic job, and are some of the kindest people I have ever met. The training process has also been rigourous and well planned out by our current supervisors. None of us drive until they are certain that we won’t make any mistakes. So far, not a single driver or student staff member I have met at my time at transit has had any major problems with the job, everyone cares about what they do and they are all happy with the job they have. Your referencing of the UConn incident and somewhat extreme accusations about student staff in particular strike me as odd. I don’t know what your experience was like or if what you’re saying is true, but I can guaruntee that nothing you said has any connection to the accident in this story.
Christopher • Oct 15, 2022 at 5:44 pm
I worked there up until 2020, I fully expect current employees to defend that place beyond reason, as I once did. As a trainer from 2006 through 2020, I witnessed a decline in the maturity of students and their ability to manage both responsibilities of full-time school and driving. I also was student staff, so I witnessed just how unfit to fully manage that place they were. I was part of your training, and I watched it pared back from about 2016 through the present day. In my professional opinion, Umass trash is biding its time until an at fault fatal occurs. Just look at the two rear end accidents from spring of 2019. Ask Tom if you don’t have access to them. My partner was harassed by the current operations supervisor who has problems managing people. I’m still in touch with several people who work there, a few of them have told me it’s worse. I received privileged treatment myself while I was there, but I heard no end from people who were on the “outside” of the numerous social groups, including that of student staff. Students can still work there, there just needs to be more support.
Christopher • Oct 16, 2022 at 12:42 pm
By the way, I’m Getch. Nice to meet you!
Christopher • Oct 6, 2022 at 2:46 pm
One of the things I worried about as a former trainer was that the constant driver shortages caused by the internal culture there where members of student staff would become overly upset and unforgiving if a driver called out for any reason. My friend who was a trans woman was constantly being mocked for calling out sick when she was depressed. I hope new management fixes the employee culture there.