1. Scenario: Trip 61383 has broken down on I-95 in Secaucus, NJ with a flat tire. 


Our response time was 2 minutes, which is very good. Target response time should be 3 minutes or less. 
This is an emergency which we had become aware of by the CS team, who had received calls from passengers who were onboard the bus. 

The bus broke down 15 minutes away from the final drop off location, i.e., NY

We looked for nearby buses running on same route. For this refer to Full schedule. At that time, our closest available OurBus trips were BestBus trip 60125 which would have been on the same highway, around the same time. Also, 2:30pm MJM bus heading from NYC to AC was also another best option.

Also, learn to identify nearby buses by doing Ctrl+F on full schedule and type in the name of the nearby city (in this case, New York)

We had also tried to search for Relief bus companies - E Vanderhoof, Panorama, and Atlantic Taxi were some valid responses.

Overall emergency response protocol: The best option here should have been to just Uber the passengers as there were only 9 passengers and the bus was 15 minutes from its final destination. Uber would be cheaper than a bus, and faster.


2. Scenario: Trip 65100 breaks down in Cranbury NJ on the way from NYC to Lancaster. 


Cranbury, NJ is about 1 hour away from NYC. The bus was headed to Lancaster, which is about 2 hours away from Lancaster, PA.

We were working on 2 solutions simultaneously:

  • Looking to relief bus. Some of the nearby companies are Stouts, Starr, and LX. They all have locations within 30 minutes of this location.
  • We were also checking if we have any other OurBus which was available nearby to the breakdown location. There was another Kleins bus which was on layover in NYC. We were trying to contact the TP of Kleins to ask them to send the  bus to breakdown location.

Meanwhile, the bus got repaired and then headed to the other pickup location


3. Scenario: Trip 72270 / Ithaca - NYC / FLWT / 7:30 am - bus had a flat tyre on HWY 80 near Budd Lake, NJ.

The bus was approximately 45 mins away from New York, NY. And, it broke down around 11:30 AM. There were 32 riders on the bus. We were working on 3 solutions simultaneously:

  • Following up with FLWT about the ETA of the mechanic.
  • Several operators like MJM, LX Coach, Panorama, Best Trails, Decamp, Lakeland, and Camila Tours were approached, for relief bus; but none could help.
  • Another plan was to Uber the passengers to Dover, NJ train station from where they could take the train to NYC and we would reimburse them.
  • Lastly, we had a NST bus which was on layover in NJ, and his scheduled trip was supposed to start at 4:30pm. We contacted the driver, and asked him to head to the breakdown location and pickup the stranded passengers.

By the time the NST driver arrived at the breakdown location, He couldn’t find the bus at the location of breakdown. Upon checking with the FLWT driver, we realized the mechanic sent by FLWT had already arrived and the bus was fixed. It started moving at 1:16 pm.

This trip had a return trip at 1:35pm which got delayed by 1 hour.

It also had a transfer scheduled at Binghamton, which also would've got delayed. 

There were 8 connecting passengers on 73107 out of which 5 boarded from NYC, going to Syracuse and 3 were from Binghamton. 

The plan was to have the connecting shuttle pickup the 3 riders from Binghamton on time and carry on with the trip. The 5 riders from NYC who were all going to Syracuse, FLWT said, we could Uber them.


4. Scenario: Trip ID 32131 / New York, NY - Syracuse, NY - Geneva- Waterloo, NY - Rochester, NY - Buffalo, NY / 2:30 PM - Bus broke down at NYC stop Madison Avenue.

Bus broke down at the initial location. FLWT dispatch called and informed us. So there was another bus of Motor coach which was departing within next 60 minutes. So the passengers were moved to the next bus of Motor coach which was running the route NY-Binghamton-Ithaca. 

So, Motor coach bus took the passengers till Binghamton.
FLWT sent a relief bus to Binghamton and Field trips took over from Binghamton to respective destinations.


5. Scenario: Trip ID 62965 / Washington, DC - Baltimore - White Marsh, MD - New York, NY / Bus broke down near Lincoln Tunnel, NY / 12 passengers


The bus broke down at 5:45 pm at the toll of Lincoln Tunnel. The passengers left the bus as it was very close to the drop off location.
We started focusing on the return trip which was at 7:15 pm. Haymarket sent a tow truck (mechanic) to fix the bus. The backup plan was to use the 8:30pm DC Trails Bus (trip id 60103 / New York, NY - Washington, DC - Vienna, VA) and 9:30pm DC Trails bus (Trip ID 64300 / New York, NY - Washington, DC). 
The departure time of the Haymarket trip was changed to 8 pm. LX, Panorama, Reliance, Best Trails, Coach Express and MJM were reached but they couldn’t help. 
Haymarket sent a tow truck. which arrived at 7 pm. The bus was fixed at 7:10 pm. The driver took longer time to find a place, take rest and have his food because of which the bus departed at 8:27 pm.

Total Delay: 30 minutes


6. Scenario: Trip Id 63608 / New York, NY - Binghamton, NY - Ithaca, NY / HVAC not functional / 16 passengers


The driver boarded the passengers and departed on time. 

At 12:15 pm, we were informed that the AC stopped working and the trip couldn’t be continued on that bus. Frank turned around and started coming back to NYC.

All the possible operators in NYC were approached but nobody was available to help. Then, all the 16 passengers were moved to the 1:35 pm trip from NYC (FLWT). 


For the return trip at 5:20 pm (Trip ID 63680/ Ithaca - Bing - NY / 25 passengers), we tried calling NST but they didn’t have a driver. We discussed canceling the Syracuse - Binghamton shuttles and using that bus to bring the passengers halfway and then find alternate transportation from there to NYC. 

We tried calling the possible relief companies like Tiger tours, T&Z party bus, Skystar and Aegean but all went to VM. 


We decided to cancel the return trip and gave them 3 options - 3 pm OurBus, 7:15 pm Flix Bus or travel tomorrow. The passengers were informed and taken care of accordingly. The next day Motor Coach bus could not do the trips as the HVAC needed t be repaired. So the trips on 07/26 were assigned to Panorama.


7. Scenario: Trip ID 61708 / NYC - Niagara Falls / 9:15 AM FLWT / Overbooking


FLWT dispatch reported that the bus was overbooked and all the 56 seats were occupied wherein there were 53 tickets sold from GWB. 
The driver said there was no space for Fort Lee passengers. There were 2 booked. The driver actually boarded some passengers who had tickets but their names were not on the list. He didn’t stop in Fort Lee and the 2 passengers were left behind. 
We booked an Uber for these 2 passengers till Binghamton. Asked the driver to hold the bus in Binghamton and they boarded it there. 
Later on, while speaking to Mike from FLWT about this situation, he said that the driver was new and wasn’t aware of the protocol to call us in case such a situation occurs. He said that the driver would be informed. The cost of Uber was deducted from the revenue of the trip.


8. Scenario: Trip ID 66984 / NYC - Niagara Falls / 9:15 AM FLWT / Passenger left behind & broken down bus


The bus reached the Rochester stop early and departed on time but in the meanwhile a passenger got off the bus and was left behind. 
While trying to contact FLWT for this issue, we were informed that the bus broke down 10 minutes after Rochester stop and FLWT decided to send a relief bus and the ETA shared with us was 40 minutes. 
At this point the driver informed us that he asked people not to get off the bus at Rochester stop but 2 riders grabbed their luggage and got off (the one who was left behind was one of these 2). 
Chris (FLWT dispatch) said that he would go to Rochester stop to pickup the stranded rider and then would go to the broken down bus's location. 
At 5:10 pm, we got an update that the driver fixed the broken down before bus the relief bus could get there and he departed. 
This stranded rider was still a problem. FLWT did not agree to help this rider or pay for the expense because it was his fault and not the driver’s. We booked an Uber for this rider for $169 till Buffalo airport where he boarded the Equinox bus.


9. Scenario: Trip ID 68148 / NY - Ithaca  / 12:00 PM Panorama Tours / Mismatch in trip confirmation.


Panorama informed us that they didn’t have this trip in their system. They had another trip at 5:15 pm so we asked them to use that bus for this trip and we decided to arrange another bus for the 5:15 pm trip. We reached out to all the eligible operators but none of them had a bus available. 
FLWT had a bus but the wifi was not working on it. They tried to fix it. We decided to use this bus and inform the riders that there would be no wifi on the bus and anyone who absolutely needed to have wifi on the bus were given options to reschedule to other departures. 
The bus got late by 2 hours 45 minutes due to heavy traffic but all the riders were informed well in advance. The bus departed at 8:08 pm with 51/55 riders.


10. Scenario: Event: BTS - Permission to Dance On Stage / Fast Deer/ Hotel Erving- Sofi.


Bus met with an accident 9 miles from Sofi stadium. Driver made a turn and a street sign on the road hit the windows. Passengers got off the bus and uber-ed themselves. Return was covered by Coach Max.