School Bus Driver Hits Cyclist, Injures 3, On Major Brooklyn School Bike Route

A school bus driver struck a cargo bike-riding dad with two kids on Bergen Street in Brooklyn on Thursday morning, according to locals and officials.

The driver of the yellow bus hit the cyclist at the intersection of Underhill Avenue in Prospect Heights just after 8 a.m., and paramedics brought three people with minor injuries to Methodist Hospital, according to the Fire Department. 

FDNY and the Police Department did not immediately have any more information on the incident, but pictures from the scene indicate that the bus driver and the cyclist were heading west on Bergen when the motorist made a right turn north onto Underhill and into the cyclist’s path. 

Bergen Street hosts a popular weekly group ride for parents and kids on their way to school, also known as a bike bus, each Wednesday on the corridor between Rockaway Avenue in Brownsville and Court Street in Cobble Hill. On other days, Bergen is a key route for cyclists heading west towards the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges.

Cargo bikes have become increasingly popular for parents to transport their youngsters to school without relying on cars.

A volunteer with the Bergen bike bus, who came upon the scene after dropping his nephew off at nearby P.S. 9, said the collision made clear the dangers of riding on the corridor without a critical mass of fellow cyclists. 

“This is why we do the work that we do,” said KJ, who asked not to have his full name published. “When you’re riding within a group, you’re safer on these streets. For it to be a school bus is outrageous, we all have to be on the same page.”

Underhill Avenue, where the bus driver turned, used to be closed off to through traffic when it was an open street earlier in the pandemic, but the Department of Transportation has since reopened it to vehicles passing through as part of its shared bike boulevard design.

The morning commute is a dangerous time on the city’s streets, with roads right outside the houses of education logging above-average crash and injury numbers, a Streetsblog investigation found last year. 

School bus drivers are often part of the problem, as their pilots have a history of killing more vulnerable road users in crashes. 

The bus company in Thursday’s crash, Total Transportation Corp., did not immediately respond to a request for comment.