Wondering why the 255 driver awkwardly and anxious stops the bus when he crosses the rail tracks just off SR-520? Well, in order to make sure the state will be eligible for federal funds in some cases, new regulations force buses to stop before crossing train tracks. Drivers are surely instructed to look both ways.

22 Replies to “Buses Now Stop at Rail Crossings”

  1. Ummmmm ok? Yes, I realize that a bus is filled with a greater number of passengers, but if cars can safely cross tracks without stopping, why should a bus need to stop? How does it make it any safer? For crossings that have no signals at all, I can agree with this regulation, but for all other crossings, this makes no sense.

    1. There is still a possibility of the gates and lights malfunctioning. If there is a problem with the RR warning system, cars can clear or stop at a crossing quicker than a bus can. A 60′ bendy bus would take a few seconds to clear while a car would take a fraction of a second. Even if it costs a few seconds, there are only a few crossings in the Puget Sound region that see bus traffic.

      Of course, this rule is written in blood, as all railroad rules are.

  3. Huh?

    I thought that was a federal rule 30 years ago?

    Where it was funny was riding the MBTA bus from Fresh Pond to Harvard Square and having the driver stop, look and listen as he crossed the Watertown Branch off of the Fitchburg Line, which had at that point been abandoned for 10 years.

    It isn’t Nanny State, groan, it is common sense for a vehicle the size of a bus to be sure the arms and flashers are working by looking both ways.

    Trucks should have to do it too.

    1. I’ve never been convinced that asking a massive bus stop, and then start at a speed that wouldn’t be capable of drifting past the tranks in the case of a mechanical problem when restarting is really safer…

      1. Stopping to check if a train was coming wasn’t really the problem. The driver should have never crossed the tracks if there was a potential that the bus would have blocked the tracks.

  6. AFAIK, Community Transit buses have had “This Bus Stops At All Railroad Crossings” stickers on the back for as long as I can remember.

  7. Growing up on the Rathdrum Prairie in Idaho, our school buses would always stop for RR crossings, opening the doors and looking both ways. They did this even on mothballed lines, in places where one could see 20 miles down the horizon, and in places with gates and horns present. Silly though it may be, it’s an old practice.

  8. We (CT) have always stopped at all crossings, open drivers window and door look and proceed..

  9. I have seen at least one mothballed railroad crossing in Nevada (between Henderson and Boulder City) that has signs flanking the highway reading EXEMPT, so buses don’t have to stop there and slow down traffic. Seems to me like a good solution for defunct railroads that can easily be reversed if the line is ever put back into operation. I don’t know why this solution isn’t more widespread.

    1. This seems like a good idea to me. In Tukwila and Kent, there are crossings which are unused. It wouldn’t take much for the operator (BNSF / UP) to put up signs where bus routes cross. And take them down if the tracks become active again.

      I guess though, that it would only happen if some law was made in a county/municipality. It is a lot of money to spend.

  10. Buses shoould be stopping at all rail crossings – this is nothing new.

    There’s a transit center in Greensboro, NC where the exit to the center crosses a rail spur to the local newspaper printing plant. It’s interesting watching a pulse of 15 buses leave and “stop” prior to this little used track.

  11. Is there a definitive answer on this? ST buses say “Bus stops at railroad crossings” and I’ve seen other systems with that too. I thought it was a federal law that all buses have to stop at railroad crossings anyway and so the signs were rather redundant. Although I’ve never seen a Metro bus stop.

    1. I don’t see how the signs are redundant, as car drivers have no reason to know about federal regulations regarding transit at rail crossings. If buses are going to be stopping for no apparent reason, a little signage is probably in order.

    2. We used to be able to drive through any crossing that was controlled with signals. The new rule states that we stop, look, and listen at ALL crossings. This includes obviously inactive crossings like the 2 behind East base on 120th and the crossing on NE 8th by Whole Foods. Until those crossings are clearly marked as abandoned (or something like that – I haven’t seen the actual signs) we have to stop.

      I don’t recall the details on the penalties other than that they were severe – Something along the lines of suspension for the first offense and termination on the 2nd or 3rd offense so it’s not something to mess around with.

      1. Those are the penalties given by Metro. If you are caught and pulled over by police/sheiff/WSP, they will punch your CDL on the spot. Say goodbye to your job without a CDL.

  12. It doesn’t require a railroad to stop the 255.

    It stops 5 times inbound at Convention Place, and only one of those is to embark/disembark passengers.

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