Mayor calls for more SF tour bus inspections

Just one week after an out of control City Sightseeing bus plowed into street barricades and construction scaffolding, it was business as usual for tour bus companies in San Francisco Friday.

That crash injured 20 people and led Mayor Ed Lee to address the crash during a press conference discussing the completion of projects for the Vision Zero campaign to eliminate pedestrian fatalities in San Francisco. 

“We are demanding the CPUC order an entire inspection of every single tour bus, 100 percent,” said Lee. 

But according to the California Public Utilities Commission inspecting tour buses isn't their job.  That responsibility belongs to the California Highway Patrol. According to the mayor only 10 percent of San Francisco tour buses are inspected, leaving another 90 percent sliding through the cracks.

“I know that it's not sufficient -- given the number of buses that we have in our streets that are operating in those capacities -- that not 100 percent are not inspected. That's not good enough,” said Lee. 

The mayor says every aspect of the crash is being looked at in the investigation from mechanical problems to possible driver error. The attorney representing the driver says his client claims the brake system shut down. 

“They are actively taking the bus apart and putting it back together. Determining the working order,” says San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr.

But what's not working, according to some, is the lack of authority the city has over the tour buses.  Carl Payne is a retired San Francisco police officer whose beat was Union Square.

He says the mayor's request for tour bus inspections is a good idea, but not a feasible one. He says the lack of personnel among other reasons make it difficult for change to happen. 

“The way the rules are set up now, the only change that's going to come to these buses has to come through Sacramento. They're the ones who set the rules,” said Payne. 

The mayor says he would like to have this investigation wrapped up over the next few days or weeks.