After five people were killed and dozens were injured in a tour bus crash in Western New York Aug. 22, national attention has turned to the tour bus company that chartered the vehicle.
State Police said a tour bus owned and operated by Staten Island-based M&Y Tours was traveling back to New York City from a day of sightseeing in Niagara Falls when it veered off the road and rolled multiple times, killing five and injuring dozens.
What is M&Y Tours?
According to public records, M&Y tours is an interstate passenger tour bus company located in the Bay Terrace neighborhood of Staten Island.
The bus company operates nine charter buses and employs 20 drivers. According to state documents, the owner and corporate officer of the company is listed as Dewen Su, of Staten Island.
While the company does not have a website immediately available, the tour company appears to have been in operation since 2012.
Bus company got safety rating in 2024: How did it score?
M&Y tours failed one-fifth of all safety vehicle inspections in the last two years, but passed all but one of its driver inspections, according to federal records.
The bus company received a “satisfactory” safety rating from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in September 2024. The rating is the highest a commercial motor vehicle company can receive and indicates “no evidence of substantial non-compliance with safety requirements.” The company did not report any bus crashes in the last two years, according to the report.
Federal safety inspection reports show M&Y Tour Inc. operates nine charter buses and employs 20 drivers.
Victims, bus driver identified
New York State Police have released the names of the five people killed in the crash as well as the name of the bus operator.
Shankar Kumar Jha, 65 of Madhu Bani, India, Pinki Changrani, 60 of East Brunswick NJ, Columbia University student Xie Hongzhuo, 22 of Beijing, China, Zhang Xiaolan, 55 of Jersey City, NJ and Jian Mingli, 56 of Jersey City, NJ died in the incident.
Bin Shao, 55 of Flushing, NY was operating the vehicle and had no signs of impairment, according to state police.
What happened?
Just before Exit 48A on the Thruway at approximately 12:22 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 22, the operator of a 2005 Van Wool Bus and Coach tour bus owned by M&Y Tour, Inc. out of Staten Island is believed to have become distracted, lost control of the bus and overcorrected, exiting the roadway and rolling the bus, according to state police. The bus was traveling eastbound on the I-90 from Niagara Falls to New York City.
There were 54 people total on the bus at the time of the incident — 52 passengers and two employees of the tour bus company. The occupants of the bus ranged in age from 1-74 and reside from multiple countries, including the U.S., China, India, the Philippines and the Middle East.
“First and foremost, our thoughts, prayers and hearts go out to those involved, their friends and their family,” New York State Police Troop T Major Andre Ray said during a press conference near the crash site Friday evening.
The cause of the crash is still under investigation but mechanical failure and operator impairment or intoxication have been ruled out and no charges have been filed at this point.
Where did the tour bus crash?
The tragic bus accident happened at Exit 48A (Pembroke/New York state Route 77) and Exit 49 (Depew/Lockport/NY Route 78), near mile marker 403.0, state police said. The location in the Genesee County town of Pembroke is midway between Rochester and Buffalo.
The bus was heading east to New York City after visiting Niagara Falls.
Where is Pembroke?
Pembroke is near the border of Erie County and is crossed by several major highways, including Routes 5, 33, 77, and the New York State Thruway. The town is about an hour’s drive west of Rochester, has a population near 4,200 and has several hamlets — Corfu, East Pembroke and Indian Falls.
Tour bus crash raises questions about new seatbelt law enforcement in NY
The crash comes less than six months after a new state law went into effect requiring passengers over age 8 to wear seatbelts on charter buses manufactured after November 2016. Lawmakers passed the bill in response to a previous fatal crash involving students and teachers.
While the law allows police to issue $50 fines to passengers not wearing seatbelts, it does not specify who is responsible for enforcement — and bus drivers or companies are not held accountable if passengers don’t comply. A state website offers no guidance for how drivers should address the requirement.
Last week, the Bus Association of New York State advised companies to post signs or make announcements to inform passengers about the law. But responsibility ultimately rests with riders, not operators, according to industry publications.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: M&Y Tours: What we know about bus company involved in NY Thruway crash
Reporting by Alexandra Rivera, Emily Barnes and Kayla Canne, Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
