Isn’t Disney supposed to be a happy place? First there was a horrible crash of the Disney monorail that killed the operator of the monorail. A week later there was a bus crash that injured 12 passengers. And back in December, passengers on the monorail were stuck for hours.

Yesterday an 80-year old bus driver at Disney crashed into two other vehicles. Check out the full story on the Palm Beach Post. Florida Highway Patrol identified the driver as Fredrick Cassens, 80, of Auburndale.

WESH.com reported that 19 people were on the Disney bus. There were said to be no injuries.

From the Palm Beach Post, “The crash was the third such event on the theme park’s property in the past two weeks. The most recent killed a 9-year-old Pinellas County boy, who was run over Thursday after his bicycle drifted into the side of a Disney bus at Fort Wilderness Resort , investigators said.”

The Disney Blog has a look at all of the accidents and the steps Disney might look at in light of the recent incidents.

There is a very upsetting story coming out of Moscow, Russia this morning. More than 35 people have died in 2 suicide bombings in the subway system in Moscow.

“It was a terrorist act carried out by the female suicide bombers,” said Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, citing Russia’s intelligence agency, the Federal Security Service. “They were specifically timed — for … the train was nearing the station — to make the most damage.

The first explosion occurred about 8 a.m. at Lubyanka subway station, killing at least 23 people and injuring 20. The second explosion happened about 30 minutes later at Park Kultury station, on the same train line. The Emergency Situations Ministry reported 12 dead in the second explosion, with 20 more injured.

Read more on the NY Times and CNN about the potential reason behind the attacks.

This morning while attending a conference in Austin, I snapped a few photos of the downtown station (the terminal) for the new light rail that will begin service next week. I just missed a train by about 1 minute! The train had two cars and a coupler in the middle.

Read the rest of this entry »

OK, tell me…when you look at the photo below, do you see one bus or two? Look closely…

It’s one bus with a full bus wrap – the old bus is actually wrapped into the new bus! This is the coolest bus wrap I have ever seen and would probably freak out drivers who are driving on the side of this new bus.

Many of you have heard of snakes on a plane,  but have you heard of snakes on a bus? Our man on the street in Berlin, Mark, sent in the photos below of a bus that has a wrap promoting the zoo. We’ve seen tons of transit ad wraps here at InsideTransit – for both buses and trains – and this is the best looking wrap I’ve ever seen.

I don’t know about you but I would be a bit nervous if that bus showed up at my stop in the morning.

The transit management in NYC, known as the MTA, has posted a press release noting that they will be terminating more than 1,000 positions. The MTA says this is more than 15% of the administrative payroll. Over 500 transit station agent positions will also begin to be cut – at my station. I’ve often wondered what the station agent does but sit there or stand outside and talk on their cell phone all day. Why not give them a broom and some bleach and let them clean the stations.

“The State’s economic crisis demands that the MTA move quickly and decisively to cut costs, and that is exactly what we are doing,” said Jay H. Walder, MTA Chairman and CEO. “These layoffs are extremely painful, but we must live within our means and make the tough decisions that businesses and families across New York are making.” Walder continues, “We will be reducing overtime, consolidating redundant functions and working with suppliers to lower costs. We will not stop until I can say that every dollar the MTA receives is spent wisely.”

I’m just wondering how long before we hear that the prices will be increasing – I say somewhere around mid-April.

We’ve written about odd buses before including the Fucker Bus. Here in NYC there is a bus called the Duck which can float around in the water and then become an open-top bus. The Duck bus is for tourists coming to NYC.

Today our reporter in Berlin, Mark, has found us a new type of bus. It’s a bus that can transform into a boat and head into the water.

Check out the full story on Spiegel Online. The boat part of the bus is powered by two massive engines and the bus can carry 45 passengers across the river.

All I can say is that I want this water bus. You could easily live inside this bus and slap an Internet connection on the roof and go anywhere! I wonder how long a trip on this boat-bus would take from NYC to London. Place your bets in the comments.

Amtrak has announced cancellations for Sunday February 7th due to the massive snow that fell between Washington and New Jersey. I can only imagine what a zoo Penn Station must be with all of the canceled trains! Here’s a partial list of the canceled trains – view all of the changes on the Amtrak website.

• Carolinian trains 79 and 80 will operate only between Raleigh and Charlotte with no alternate transportation between New York and Raleigh. 
• Palmetto trains 89 and 90 are canceled in their entirety between New York and Savannah.

Read the rest of this entry »

I wish I could say the video below is Photoshop’d but sadly it is not. It’s a video from India where the trains are so packed that people ride on top of the train. I assume there is no fare collection for those people. I wonder how the people get up there and how long they ride up top for.

Over my many years riding the NYC subway, I like to think I’ve seen it all. From having a gun pointed at me, to watching a man take a pee off the edge of the platform, to a woman changing her clothes between two cars as we crossed the Manhattan Bridge, nearly nothing could shock me.

But today I have a video that I never thought I would see. Below is a video of a man playing with his chicken on a Bronx-bound 6 subway train. The video shows a man on the floor playing with his chicken (yes a clucking chicken) while others look on. You see, most people probably weren’t pissed that a chicken was on the subway, but that they were missing some seats!

So leave a comment, what’s the weirdest thing you’ve seen on the subway or bus? Make sure to note your city as well.