TAMPA (WFLA) — A streetcar and a charter bus collided in downtown Tampa Monday morning.
The crash happened at the intersection of Channelside Drive and Franklin Street, near the Tampa Convention Center.
Police said the bus driver was cited for failure to obey a traffic control device. According to police, just before 11:20 a.m. the bus turned in front of the streetcar and caused it to dislodge from the tracks.
Officers spent hours directing traffic while HART crews worked carefully to get the streetcar back onto the tracks.
After 3 p.m., all lanes of traffic reopened when a second streetcar towed away the one collided with the bus.
Tampa Police Department and Fire Rescue responded to the scene. The driver of the streetcar was taken to a local hospital for medical evaluation after he reported possible minor injuries, police said.
“All of a sudden the bus turned right in front of the trolley. We couldn’t believe it. We were like, ‘oh my gosh,’ it just didn’t seem real,” said Nina Kennedy, who is visiting Tampa from New York.
About three dozen passengers on the damaged bus had to board a second one in order to catch their cruise.
“A number of people said look, out look out and then there’s a crunch,” said bus passenger Bob Montgomery from Hudson. “He didn’t see him until it was too late.”
Sore from the impact to the streetcar, Kennedy told 8 On Your Side she’s thankful the crash wasn’t worse.
“If that trolley would have fallen on its side,” she said, “we would have been in great injury.”
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