Bus company in 401 crash had good rating

The bus involved in a traumatic crash on Highway 401 Monday belongs to a tour company with a good safety history and no previous collisions reported, according to a public records search.

Union Tour Express Inc., based outside Boston, operates 15 vehicles and employs 28 drivers, according to the U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

The company has been inspected 112 times during the last 12 months.

Of those, 96 found no violation while 16 others found relatively minor problems.

Records indicate the bus in question was inspected on March 18 and found to have a problem with an emergency exit.

There were a handful of violations involving drivers. In April 2017, a driver was cited for an inability to read or speak English well enough to “respond to official inquiries.”

In February, a driver was written up for not having the proper driver’s licence to operate a commercial vehicle.

There were also three citations for unsafe driving: two for speeding and one for failure to obey a traffic signal.

A spokesman for the safety administration said none of the violations was considered serious enough to warrant carrier penalties or additional investigation. Union’s overall rating is “satisfactory,” which is the highest the agency offers.

Taken together, its rating puts it in the top 25 per cent of regulated bus companies in the United States. The tour company was incorporated in New York state in 2011 and has addresses in Flushing, N.Y., as well as Peabody, Mass. No one could be reached for comment Tuesday.

However, a manager told reporters on Monday that the driver of the 401 bus had been employed for about a month.

The bus was taking Chinese tourists on a 10-day tour of eastern North America, with stops in Washington, Ottawa — where it had just left — and Toronto.

A 54-year-old passenger has died, the Ontario Provincial Police said Tuesday morning, while four other passengers remain in hospital with life-threatening injuries.