-
Another bus fire-MegaBus
From an article on http://www.Gawker.com; apparently this happened Sunday, February 21, 2016 on US-41 just north of Lake Forest, Illinois.
There is no fairer review of cheap bus travel than this.
On Sunday, Lucas Peterson, a journalist who writes for The New York Times’ Frugal Traveler blog, boarded a Megabus in Chicago bound for Milwaukee. At first, there was an irritating, but not disastrous, problem
Soon enough, things took a turn for the worse. The bus quickly caught fire, and the passengers were forced to evacuate the bus, leaving their luggage inside.
Peterson, probably the very last person Megabus could have hoped for to be riding this specific bus at this specific time, tweeted out updates of the incident as it happened:
Summary: we left Chicago, immediately there seemed to be something wrong bc we stopped on shoulder of highway couple times, driver got out.
Then driver said we have to turn around and go back to Chicago to switch buses. About five min later tire blows and we pull over on hwy 41
Driver says it’s just a flat tire, that there’s no need to panic, and goes outside. Minutes later smoke starts pouring out of the bus.
Someone on the top deck eventually says: “we should get off of this bus.” So we all get out. People trying to get their luggage. Small fire.
S mall fire over wheel becomes big; people abandon luggage and get away. Entire thing goes up in flames, series of loud booms.
Thankfully, no one was injured. Peterson reports, however, that passengers are angry that they lost their luggage—some of them lost laptops and even a birth certificate. Of course, Megabus only guarantees liability for lost luggage up to $250.
Luckily, the passengers made it to their destination at last. Their mode of transportation was, naturally, another shitty Megabus.
So … what do we think happened? One tire was down on air or already airless, driver tried to continue, other dual caught fire?
Or brake locked up, tire got hot, etc. etc. etc.
passengers are looking up Megabus TOC which limits liability to $250; some very unhappy people. pic.twitter.com/8p5QDVIgS5
— The Frugal Traveler (@frugaltraveler) February 21, 2016
-
14 Replies
-
From what was said it sure sounds like it could have been a tire that caused it, or it could have been a hanging brake or a hot bearing that caused the wheel to get hot causing the flat. Whatever the reason it shows how tires and their pressures have to be respected, and that if there is a problem you stop driving until the cause and extent is known.
Every time I hear of things like this I feel bad thinking I am not doing enough to give the bus a quick check every time I stop, such as shooting tire or hub temps, or just checking fluid levels, or something. The only thing I do is give my coach a detailed inspection prior to a trip, but here is an example of where even that is not enough.
-
You may want to add the button pushing tire check feature with a set of Pressure Pro’s.:)
-
Jon wrote: “The only thing I do is give my coach a detailed inspection prior to a trip, but here is an example of where even that is not enough.“
Presuming that an inspections was actually done. From the article it appears that the Megabus was traveling between downtown Chicago and downtown Milwaukee. Megabus picks up its passengers in downtown Chicago on Canal Street across the street from the Union Station Amtrak/Metro train stations (I’m not making this up!). They didn’t get far. Lake Forest is 29 miles from Union Station.
The passengers reported the driver stopped apparently more than once to check something. Did the driver know there was a problem? Apparently. Rather than talking about turning around, going back to Chicago to get another bus … the driver should have stayed PUT!
I wonder how many bus drivers carry an IR gun to shoot tire, hub, and brake temps.
-
That was my point. I know I should never drive away from a rest area without using my IR gun, especially since I don’t have a pressure pro.
This is not a veiled advertisement for Tom. Right now shooting temps at the tires and hubs is the only way i know to verify my tire pressures are Ok and I don’t have a dragging brake, or bad bearing. A pressure pro that reads temps negates the need for an IR gun and it is monitoring everything all the time.
In the Megabus case the driver should have erred on the side of caution. He did not and apparently drive with a problem. So far I haven’t seen problems that fix themselves.
-
My pressure pro system only provides the psi since I use the Silver Leaf system, which is why I carry an IR gun to check my temps. But I know that when I had a valve leaking that when I see my colors change from green to yellow it’s time to pull over and check what’s going on. I’m not sure I would have discovered the valve leak just based on shooting my IR gun at a rest stop.
-
If your tire pressures are all set at the pressures required based on the weight carried you will find when you shoot temperatures at a rest stop after driving the temperatures of the tires will be very much the same all around the coach. There will be minor temperature differences, but over time you will see the temperature relationships remain pretty much the same. So if you do see a variation from the norm when shooting temps you can almpost bet something is wrong, like low tire pressure.
-
I have always seen a 20-30 degree hotter temp on my inside drive tires vs the outer drive tires, I have assumed it is due to less air flow on the inside tire, and it hugs the disc brake closer. Am I right in thinking this?
I have also been reluctant to try Pressure Pro, because of a bad experience with an off brand TPM which caused a flat because of a leaking sensor. So after that, I’ve just stuck with my temp gun, and a tire bumper at the rest stops.
-
Since I cannot measure sidewall temp on my inner drives to get consistency on my readings I have taken the tire temps in the center of the tread on all 8. Depending on how quick I can get out of the coach and where the sun is it would not be unusual for me to see temps on all tires within a 130 to 135 degree range with the sunny side tires a little higher than the shade side tires for example. Ambient temps affect tire temps as do my speeds so I am not looking for a specific temperature as much as I am looking for consistency in the temps.
Since the overhang on my XLII and the XL before it is quite long my inner tires don ‘t have a variation as described in the post above.
It has been said before that 40 foot coaches with the inner tires much closer to the engine and transmission do have a higher temp, but I don’t recall the spread being in the 20 or 30 range. That might be normal for your coach and others like it. Perhaps we can get some feedback from members but if we do everyone reporting should try to state the cold pressures relative to the specified pressures. Mine are set at 5 PSI above what the Michelin chart calls for.
I also shoot temps on my wheels. Unfortunately I have the type of hub cap that covers the lug nuts so I cannot get the readings close to the center, but I do read the wheel temp at the prerimeter of the hub cap. They also have been reasonably consistent, but not so close as the tire temps.
-
Jon
What brand of heat sensing gun would you recommend?
Thank you,
Chris
-
There are all kinds, ranging from inexpensive ones available at Harbor Frieght to more costly ones used by professionals.
I have a Fluke and it has been reliable.
-
Jerry,
I can’t remember a leaking seal in many years with the newer Pressure Pro sensors. I’ve been using them for 8 years without any issue. What your IR gun won’t tell you is the leak you just picked up from running over some junk on the road and as you continue down the road your tire starts losing air. Next thing you know, bang and your day has just been ruined not to mention damage, safety, cost, etc…
If you use the new Pulse monitor, you then have temp displays as well as pressure.
-
Thank you Jon. I’ll let you know what we end up with.
-
how much us the pressure pro system?
-
Contact me direct.
Log in to reply.