Back-to-Back School Bus Accidents For Company That Serves New Brunswick Schools

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—On Monday, September 22 at 3:45pm, a New Brunswick school bus collided with two other cars at the corner of Livingston Avenue and Loretto Street.

Jennifer Bradshaw, a spokesperson for Mayor James Cahill told the Home New Tribune that no children were injured, and that they were transported to another bus after the crash.

Franklin-based Joy Transportation, which owns the bus involved in the crash, responded to few of the questions asked. 

“I am not at liberty to say [who was at fault].  I was not present at the accident, so I am waiting for the police report,” a staff member at the office told New Brunswick Today.

Another bus operated by the same company flipped onto its side the following day in Mountain Lakes, according to a report on News 12 New Jersey.

Superintendent of Schools Richard Kaplan did not respond to inquiries from New Brunswick Today in the wake of Monday’s crash.

Instead, it was the state’s Motor Vehicle Commission that confirmed Joy Transportation operated the buses involved in both crashes last week. 

The vehicle involved in Monday’s crash was a GMC Savana, according to a spokesperson for the Motor Vehicle Commission.

Public records show that the bus that crashed in New Brunswick had previously been out of commission on what is known as a “30-Day Defect for Emissions.”

Particularly, the vehicle had “worn out L/R tires, a broken tail pipe, a broken exhaust hanger and a cracked x-arm.”

The bus did not receive an initial approval to be in service, but it did end up earning approval upon re-examination, according to the MVC.

The initial out-of-service failure rate for Joy Transportation vehicles is 34%, which does not compare favorably with other bus companies.  Only about half of its vehicles, 53%, pass the initial inspection test.

An initial out-of-service failure involves a deliberate “burn-in,” subjecting all parts of the vehicle to a stress test before declaring said vehicle safe for usage. 

By comparison, the New Brunswick Board of Education sees 11% of its vehicles fail the initial out-of-service test and 78% of its vehicles pass the initial inspection test.

Still, Joy Transportation’s inspection record is far from the worst.

Herba Transportation, which is based in New Brunswick, saw none of its vehicles pass the initial inspection test, with 83% of its vehicles failing the initial out-of-serve test.