RIPTA rider describes crash into bus shelter

By Ana Bottary

abottary@abc6.com

An abrupt and alarming stop, is how Brianna Savard describes what she felt Monday night. The RIPTA bus she was riding back from work on crashed into a Providence bus shelter. 

"I had my headphones on and then all of a sudden you heard what eventually was the bus crashing. That’s when everybody got jerked forward, it got dark, the lights went out and then a fluid started spraying down up towards the front and that’s when everyone started trying to get out of the back door," Savard says. 

Savard who did not want to go on camera, described the scene when she got off the bus. 

"There were a good half a dozen people you could see that were bleeding from the mouth or they had bloody lips. Someone had a chin laceration," she adds. 

Savard says her biggest concern is that there have been other RIPTA bus crashes within the past year. 

Including, in March, a RIPTA bus side-swiped a lamp-post near the Providence place mall shattering the door and wind-shield, sending 4 passengers to the hospital. 

In January, A RIPTA bus smashed through the front of this business on Post Road in Warwick. It left a driver and at least two passengers trapped for about an hour. 

Last September, a RIPTA Bus was rear ended by a delivery truck, sending four to the hospital. 

In June 2015, two passengers were hurt in a crash in Pawtucket, after witnesses say a truck ran a red light. 

And in May 2015, a woman was hit on Broad street in Providence. She died a few months later. 

Barbara Polichetti with RIPTA says the busses travel about 32,000 miles each day and the incidents should be viewed in this context. 

"We belong to several professional organizations. One of like size transit authorities, and the industry average in that is one accident every 25,000 miles," says Polichetti. 

She says according to their latest report, based on 2014 data, RIPTA is in that industry norm. 

Despite these numbers, bus riders we spoke with say this will not stop them from riding the bus. Including Savard. 

"I have had no problems riding the bus in the past three years, and I love it," says one bus rider. 

"I’ve always taken RIPTA in the past and it’s been really reliable for me. So I would feel very safe to be on it again," adds another. 

(C) WLNE-TV 2016