Street closed in Tacoma after transit bus loses power, hits utility pole, police say

A Tacoma street is closed after a Pierce Transit hybrid bus lost power Sunday and rolled into a power pole, according to the Tacoma Police Department.

About 9:20 a.m., the bus was climbing the hill on South Pine Street when the vehicle lost power, detective William Muse said.

To avoid having the bus veer into traffic, the driver turned the steering wheel in the opposite direction but crashed into a power pole, knocking out power to the immediate area, Muse said.

The driver was not hurt, but one passenger suffered a minor injury to his right leg. He was checked out by a Tacoma fire crew but was not transported to the hospital.

Pine Street, between South Tacoma Way and South 35th Street, remained about closed about 2:30 p.m., Muse said. Officers are not on scene, but there are barricades in place, he said.

The bus is there because it is covered in power lines, Muse said.

According to the Tacoma Public Utilities’ outage map, two customers, as of about 2:30 p.m., were still affected by the outage.