More than 50 Metrobus passengers were injured in September, putting the agency on pace to nearly double its number of bus passenger injuries in 2010.
Through nine months, 151 Metrobus passengers have been injured this year, up 61 percent from 94 people injured through September 2009, according to the transit agency’s latest safety report. The nine-month total does not include the nine injured in Tuesday’s Metrobus collision in the District.
This year’s injuries have surpassed last year’s total of 114 people injured while riding a Metrobus.
Most monthly injury totals have ranged between 10 and 16 this year, according to the safety report. But two accidents in September accounted for 49 injuries, according to spokesman Reggie Woodruff.
One occurred on Sept. 15 in which a fire truck ran a stop sign and hit a Metrobus in the District near 14th and Madison streets Northwest, injuring 22 people. The other was on Sept. 30 in Montgomery County, when one Metrobus hit another in the rear while it was stopped on University Boulevard. A total of 27 passengers were injured.
Woodruff said the operator at fault was cited for failing to control his speed and was subsequently fired following an internal review.
The rising injuries this year come in the face of Metrobuses transporting millions fewer passengers during the first few months of the 2011 fiscal year, according to a recent financial report.
Mortimer Downey, chairman of Metro’s safety and security committee, said he will request a more detailed report on September’s injuries at a committee meeting scheduled Thursday.
“I thought the trend was also a little disturbing,” he said.
Injuries to MetroAccess riders are also up from last year to 58 injuries, a 66 percent increase from the first nine months of 2009. Metro officials have said the increase is a result of a change made last summer in how Metro keeps track of MetroAccess injuries, meaning the first half of 2009’s statistics are likely skewed low.
However, injuries to rail riders have fallen this year, a difference largely attributed to the horrific Red Line crash in June 2009 that killed nine and injured dozens more. Last year, rail passengers were 4.5 times more likely to be injured than they are this year.
Even excluding the Red Line crash injuries, rail rider injury rates in 2010 are slightly lower than last year’s, according to the report.
The number of rail accidents through the first nine months of this year is also down to 15 from 18 accidents last year.
