Probe needed into Ottawa bus crash, experts say

Transportation Safety Board says fatal incident not under its purview

Experts are calling on the federal transportation safety board to investigate a deadly bus crash in Ottawa to prevent similar incidents from occurring again.

Ahmed Shalaby, a civil engineering professor at the University of Manitoba, said the Transportation Safety Board should be involved in probing the deadly crash to ensure the probe is transparent and recommendations are made to im- prove safety across the country.

“The bus was carrying 90 passengers,” he said.

“Is that not important enough to warrant a federal safety investigation? If it isn’t, then what is?”

On Friday afternoon, a double-decker bus operated by local transportation agency OC Transpo hopped a curb and struck a transit shelter, carving deep into the vehicle’s upper level and crushing a number of seats.

A local hospital said one person remains in critical condition, six are listed as serious and four are in stable condition.

The safety board confirmed that they are not investigating the bus crash as the federal independent agency only probes marine, pipeline, rail and air incidents.

“If this bus were a train, the (board) would immediately investigate. That’s not enough to make a difference to me,” said Shalaby, who is also the chair of a research program on municipal infrastructure.

The board’s mandate is to advance transportation safety by conducting investigations that result in public reports and making recommendations to improve transit safety.

“As part of its ongoing investigations, the TSB also reviews developments in transportation safety and identifies safety risks that it believes government and the transportation industry should address to reduce injury and loss,” said the Government of Canada website.

It differs from Transport Canada, which develops and administers policies, regulations and services for transportation systems, as the board works to advance safety specifically.

The board investigated a crash in 2013 in which six people were killed in an OC Transpo doubledecker bus, but only because a Via Rail train was involved. The train and bus collided during a morning commute in suburban Ottawa, shearing off the front of the bus.

But Shalaby said the kind of vehicle involved in a mass-fatality crash shouldn’t make a difference in what spurs a government-led investigation.

Shalaby said he studied factors contributing to the Humboldt Broncos bus crash, which killed 16 when a transport truck and the bus carrying a junior hockey team collided at a rural intersection in Saskatchewan in April.

“We’ve been here many times before,” said Shalaby. “These federal investigations need to happen, the question is when?”