Bus collides with campus building
A KU on Wheels bus rolled into a wall of a west campus building Tuesday. Enlarge video
Mike Schmidt, structural engineer with Professional Engineering Consultants, checks the damage to a wall at Higuchi Hall Tuesday afternoon after a KU bus crashed into an ecology lab. Two passengers were on the bus at the time of the accident but were not injured. The bus driver was not on the bus at the time of the accident.
Bus crashes into building on KU campus
A KU on Wheels bus ran into the side of Higuchi Hall, a science building that houses the Kansas Biological Survey, on Tuesday afternoon. Enlarge video
A KU on Wheels bus ran into the side of a science building on Kansas University’s West Campus, causing damage to a wall but no injuries.
The accident occurred shortly before 12:38 p.m. Tuesday, after the bus’ driver had stopped at the Higuchi Hall parking lot near 21st Street and Constant Avenue, said Capt. Schuyler Bailey of the KU Public Safety Office.
“The driver pulled off to park in the parking lot, got off the bus — possibly without setting the brake — and it rolled into the building,” Bailey said.
Two KU students had been on the bus at the time, Bailey said, but neither was injured.
First reports of the crash came via Twitter, where several users were also quick to post pictures of the bus.
Both the building’s exterior wall and the bus were damaged, but financial estimates of the damage are not yet available, Bailey said. The building was not evacuated.
Higuchi Hall, 2101 Constant Ave., is home to the Kansas Biological Survey, including several of its research units: the Central Plains Center for Biological Assessment, the Kansas Applied Remote Sensing Program, and the Kansas Field Station and Ecological Reserves and the Natural Heritage Inventory.
It’s also home to restrooms frequently used by KU on Wheels drivers, particularly those on the “Park & Ride Express” route that runs between main campus and the Park & Ride lot northwest of Clinton Parkway and Iowa Street.
“That’s why the bus was up in that area,” said Danny Kaiser, assistant director of KU Parking & Transit. “Normally that wouldn’t be on the route.”
Both students who had been on the bus apparently were anxious to catch another bus, so that they could make it to class on time, Kaiser said. As far as he knows, the students made it.
The bus is owned by the city of Lawrence, was purchased in 2006 using federal funds, and is operated by MV Transportation, the contractor that runs KU on Wheels and the city’s Lawrence transit System, also known as the T.
Repairs for the bus, which weighs 33,000 pounds, will be handled by MV Transportation.
“Nobody got hurt,” Kaiser said. “Stuff can be repaired.”
Mike Schmidt, a structural engineer with Professional Engineering Consultants in Lawrence, said that the exterior wall that was damaged was non-load bearing and consequently the building was not in danger of further damage.
The room inside suffered damage to cabinetry, the ceiling and contents to the point that the room is uninhabitable at the time being. He said workers were securing the building until permanent repairs could be made.
A cost of those damage was not immediately available, but Don Steeples, senior vice provost, said that MV Transportation’s insurance carrier would be expected to cover the cost of repairs to the building.
Comments
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Keith (anonymous) says…
Oh, the spectrometry!
lynchburgsbest (anonymous) says…
obviously the huge windows on the new busses still are not big enough
kusp8 (anonymous) says…
D'oh!
Boston_Corbett (anonymous) says…
Revenge of the Monarchs.
BabyBear (anonymous) says…
new bus driver opening!
monheim (anonymous) says…
Help wanted: bus driver.
autie (anonymous) says…
all in all, it's just a brick in the wall...
autie (anonymous) says…
and the neighbors came out
and gathered about
hey, who hit who anyway
and the police arrived
at a quarter till five
and pronounced all the victims OK
Hawk6643 (anonymous) says…
Holy Markovnikov! (I knew I would be able to use that someday!)
Wallythewalrus (anonymous) says…
maybe the dirver thought it was a magic bus.
KawHawk (anonymous) says…
Took out a $100,000 gas chromatograph/mass spectrometry machine.....
Hope someone's insured !
RoeDapple (anonymous) says…
I blame the tour guide.
http://rlv.zcache.com/worlds_hottest_...
foodboy (anonymous) says…
Yet another senseless attack on Science in Kansas.
Practicality (anonymous) says…
Give that driver a blood test!
costello (anonymous) says…
"Two KU students had been on the bus at the time, Bailey said, but neither were injured."
should be
"Two KU students were on the bus at the time, Bailey said, but neither was injured."
puddleglum (anonymous) says…
lucky no one was hurt
stuckinthemiddle (anonymous) says…
*chuckle*
foodboy - thank you...
KawHawk (anonymous) says…
Potty break !
When ya gotta go, ya gotta go............
be_cunning (anonymous) says…
Foodboy definitely is the winner today.
bearded_gnome (anonymous) says…
"gotta go! Gotta go! ... gotta go right now!"
[from recent commercial.]
poor driver, but I bet the incident video on the buscam is pretty darned cool!
***
I'm so glad the students did get to class on time, but they sure had a great excuse: "Professor Hingeldorfer, I couldn't make it to class because my bus got itself embedded in the Biological Survey building. the chromatograph was all tangled around my foot!"
***
Both the building’s exterior wall and the bus were damaged, but financial estimates of the damage are not yet available, Bailey said. The building was not
evacuated.
"financial estimates are not available" well duh!
I can't believe the article included such a statement, and even repeated it a second time! plus, I didn't see a breaking news posting of this in the breaking news headline zone of the ljworld page
...and a bus busting into the bio survey building is most certainly *breaking* news!
geekin_topekan (anonymous) says…
Not the first time a driver walked away without setting the parking break at MV. Same lot too. What are the chances?
LogicMan (anonymous) says…
"“The driver pulled off to park in the parking lot, got off the bus"
To smoke, or to text, I wonder ... ?
pc (Phil Cauthon) says…
Bust route caption contest:
http://www.lawrence.com/weblogs/capti...
bigdave (anonymous) says…
Nice one foodboy! lol
KawHawk (anonymous) says…
LogicMan: To take a restroom break. It's a revolving door there at Higuchi from all the bus drivers using the restrooms.
Boosh (anonymous) says…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEtuXr...
persevering_gal (anonymous) says…
Ah, it's the Park and Ride that I use each day! Thank goodness no one was hurt.
IllTeachYou (anonymous) says…
Now that's door to door service!
igby (anonymous) says…
Where did they find those Yugoslavian Bohonk looking blue boxes on wheels anyway.
daschie88 (anonymous) says…
Why can't this kind of stuff happen when I'm on the bus?! LOL
beachbumin (anonymous) says…
The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round......
kuhwk80 (Tom Jones) says…
I loved the Youtube of The Wheels on the Bus...Very good
Boosh
notajayhawk (anonymous) says…
Too bad it was a KU on Wheels bus - had it been a Lawrence Transit bus, there would have been no passengers at risk ...
Gootsie (anonymous) says…
the wheels on the bus went round and round
(now, have THAT song in your head today - my little gift to you)
woodenfleaeater (anonymous) says…
It seems Maximum Overdrive may be coming to life!
Aisling (anonymous) says…
and the neighbors came out
and gathered about
hey, who hit who anyway
and the police arrived
at a quarter till five
and pronounced all the victims OK
Ah autie, quoting John Prine--I knew I liked you.
GardenMomma (anonymous) says…
"— possibly without setting the brake — "
Ya think?
trinity (anonymous) says…
foodboy definitely won.
umm, the wheels on THAT bus WENT round&round...until they were stopped by a building.
BigPrune (anonymous) says…
This could be an Imodium AD commercial
Boosh (anonymous) says…
Boosh < shaking fist
Dam u gootsie your evil curse worked :(
OwlHead (anonymous) says…
maximum overdrive!!!! yessssss. Remember when Emilio Estevez pumped gas till his little hands were blistered, then he got some end of the world booty?!!
Awesome.
woodenfleaeater (anonymous) says…
Or when the soda can hit the coach square in the melon? Or when Emilio went inside the truck with the key between his fingers? That was awesome!!!! So was the booty
mr_right_wing (anonymous) says…
"The bus is owned by the city of Lawrence"
Lawrence owns the KU on Wheels buses?
I figured KU/Student Senate owned them...?
flux (anonymous) says…
I hope the guy gets to keep his job....accidents happen. Keep your head up dog!
Bladerunner (anonymous) says…
Bus 305 has always had a mind of its own!
Winters (anonymous) says…
lol...whaaat?
hwarangdo (anonymous) says…
Magical Mystery Tour is coming your way ...
geekin_topekan (anonymous) says…
"Lawrence owns the KU on Wheels buses?
I figured KU/Student Senate owned them…?"
++++
The city owns the Park/Ride buses such as the one that rolled into the building.
The State of KS owns the KU on Wheels buses.
If you look on the rear window in the picture you will see the decal that claims ownership.
BigPrune (anonymous) says…
Question: Is a KU student incapable of releasing a parking brake?