An NYU shuttle bus collided with a car on the Manhattan Bridge Friday morning. After the collision — which the university said left all passengers “uninjured” — Campus Safety did not send any universitywide alerts about the incident.
While traveling from the Brooklyn campus to Washington Square at around 11 a.m., the university shuttle along Route A — transporting 14 students and one driver — was rear-ended by a car traveling above the speed limit. NYU spokesperson Joseph Tirella told WSN that all passengers were evaluated by the New York Fire Department and emergency medical services on the scene, before another NYU vehicle drove them to Manhattan. Tirella did not address questions regarding Campus Safety alerts.
A Tandon senior on the bus, who requested anonymity due to safety concerns as an international student, told WSN that after the crash, they were evaluated by EMS and given painkillers. They said that they went to an NYU Langone hospital with a few other passengers after the crash, and that their partner experienced minor back pain for a few days afterwards. The student said that other passengers appeared to only face “minor” injuries and that the driver initially appeared unharmed before being taken into an ambulance due to what they speculated was a neck injury.
“We all just got kind of shaken because there are no seatbelts,” the student said.
The Tandon student said that the part of the bridge where the crash happened was closed for about an hour after the collision, and that it appeared that those in the other vehicle “suffered much more” than the students and university driver. NYU emailed the student to check in on them after the accident.
Multiple outlets reported a collision between a bus and car on the Manhattan Bridge at that time that left 16 people injured, with six transported to local hospitals, including NYU Langone Tisch Hospital and Bellevue Hospital. It is not specified whether an NYU shuttle or university community members were involved in the publicized collision.
Contact Natalie Deoragh and Justin Yen at [email protected].