Metro accused its largest union of peddling “misinformation” Wednesday, after the group alleged the transit agency knew about a defect that caused two of its buses to stall and crash in less than a week, but kept the buses in service anyway.
Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld announced last Thursday the agency was pulling 105 NABI hybrid buses from service after two of the vehicles stalled in a span of four days, on Sept. 25 and Sept. 28. Metro says the cause of the issue is under investigation, though in the latter case the issue may have been related to a “miswired” ignition switch.
The union argued Wednesday that Metro should have pulled the buses sooner. ATU Local 689 pointed to an email in which a maintenance supervisor warned fellow employees of a wiring problem causing buses to “cut off without warning.” The union says this indicates the crash was caused by the problem and could have been prevented. Metro argued, however, that the circumstances outlined in the email wouldn’t have caused a bus to stall, and the agency still does not know the cause of the Sept. 25 crash.
“Obviously with the safety culture that [we] have, we’re just putting those buses down as we figure out what’s going on there,” Wiedefeld said at a news conference last Thursday.”
In the Sept. 25 incident, according to the union, a bus with 47 passengers aboard was traveling at 60 mph on southbound Interstate 395 when it abruptly lost power, causing its wheels and brakes to lock. Unable to slow the bus, the operator gripped the steering wheel and guided the bus to a stop along the highway’s jersey wall to avoid crashing into other vehicles.
Had “it not been for the jersey barrier, the operator’s strength, and his quick thinking, there could have been dozens of injuries and fatalities on an expressway full of moving vehicles,” the union said.
The bus driver suffered numerous injuries — including to his knee, shin, shoulder, back and collar bone, according to the union, adding the driver is on leave. Metro did not fully confirm nor dispute the union’s account of the crash, and said it was precluded from providing detail on the injuries because of employee privacy concerns.
“All injuries were non-life threatening,” Metro spokesman Dan Stessel said.
WAMU was first to report on the circumstances that caused Metro to pull the buses from service.
The union argued the Sept. 28 crash could have been avoided if the agency had acted faster on the maintenance supervisor’s warning, which came a day after the first crash.
Shortly after 11 a.m. on Sept. 26, according to an email obtained by The Washington Post, maintenance superintendent Gary Wood warned fellow employees:
“We have found an issue with the master switch conversion causing the NABI buses to cut off without warning.”
The email went on to say the issue was related to wiring connections in the switch.
“We have stopped installing the switches and are checking all that were installed and securing by the end of today,” Wood wrote.
But Stessel said the concern raised by Wood was ruled out as the cause of the Sept. 25 crash, and had not been verified before the email was distributed.
“Unfortunately, Local 689 officials are distributing misinformation to the public,” Stessel said in an email. “At the time the email was sent, the concern had not been substantiated, and the superintendent had no knowledge of the investigation. Subsequent vetting by bus engineers determined that the circumstances described in the email would NOT have resulted in a bus stalling.”
Stessel said the Sept. 28 incident resulted in the buses being pulled “until the investigations into both incidents could be concluded.” In that incident, he said, a bus crashed into a fence. Four passengers reported minor injuries.
Complicating the matter further, a news release from the union misstated the timeline of the Sept. 25 crash and subsequent email, claiming Wood’s warning came “six hours prior” to the incident on I-395. In fact, according to the time stamp on the email, it was sent at 11:08 a.m. on Sept. 26, a day later — though it did precede the Thursday crash. The union issued a corrected timeline after an inquiry from a Post reporter.
Stessel said Metro is working with the bus manufacturer, New Flyer, to investigate the problem — along with outside consultants. The buses remain out of service.