Good Safety Record for Megabus

Authorities have released the name of the fourth person killed when a double-decker bus slammed into a low railroad bridge after making a wrong turn off a Syracuse highway on Saturday morning.

The Onondaga County Sheriff's Department on Sunday identified Deanna Armstrong, 18, of Voorhees, NJ as one of the four MegaBus passengers who died when the top of the vehicle hit the bridge in Salina. A Temple University student from Kansas, a Malaysian preacher and an information technology specialist from India also died (see related stories).

KYW's Mike Dunn reports that the bus company, MegaBus, markets itself as a no-frills carrier, charging just 32 bucks to New York. It has a generally good safety record, although there have been some reports of lost drivers.

The federal agency that monitors bus safety, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, gives Mega-Bus a satisfactory rating. The company has had no other fatal accidents, and the number of problems discovered in random vehicle and driver inspections is at or below the national average.

And Matthew Mitchell of the transit advocacy group Delaware Valley Association of Rail Passengers, DVARP,  says Mega Bus is not a fly by night operation:

"They are a subsidiary of Coach USA, which is one of the largest bus companies in America."

In March, though, a Mega Bus driver going from Philadelphia to Washington got lost in South Jersey, and in July, a Mega Bus driver heading to Philly from Toronto ended up in Harrisburg.