Fatal city bus crashes have recently soared, according to new data.
Last year, ten people were killed in collisions that involved city buses, and five have been killed so far in 2014, the MTA says.
The tragedies in 2013 were a 25 percent increase from 2012, when 8 people died.
And they were more than double the number of deaths in 2011, when four people were killed in collisions.
Traffic safety advocates want the MTA to join Vision Zero, Mayor de Blasio’s plan to end traffic fatalities—which includes the NYPD, Department of Transportation, and the Taxi and Limousine Commission.
“The upward trend line is unmistakable and frightening,” said Charles Komanoff, a traffic safety analyst for the group Right of Way. “Eight million city residents have to hope that the MTA is terrified by the trend line, and will commit to reverse it now.”
An MTA spokesman said the authority is in talks with the DOT about how it can help implement Vision Zero, and that overall fatalities have declined over the past couple of decades.
“MTA New York City Transit takes seriously its obligation to keep customers, pedestrians, and employees safe,” said Kevin Ortiz, who said the MTA investigates every death involving subways and buses. Bus drivers also do intensive safety training.
The most recent MTA bus crash death this year was on March 1. Marisol Martinez, 21, was struck and killed in Williamsburg.
Her cousin Jose Gonzalez, 23, told the Post they were in the crosswalk when she was struck, and said they had the right to cross the street.
“That was the last time I saw her,” he said.
A 17-year veteran bus driver William Pena, 49, was killed Feb. 12 after his bus was rammed by a stolen truck allegedly driven by model Tyson Beckford’s nephew. Dominic Whilby, 22, had a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit when he smashed into the M14D bus.
Pena was the first driver killed in a collision in more than 14 years.
Martha Tibillin-Guamug, 25, was killed Feb. 3 when she was struck by a Q35 bus in Jackson Heights.
On January 19, biker Pedro Santiago died after he collided with a bus in Harlem.
And driver Alphonzo Baines, 44, of Connecticut had a heart attack Jan. 17 and struck an MTA bus with his car. He died shortly after at Bellevue Hospital.