A recurring pattern in media now a days is to give absolutely no context to anecdotal accounts. The article highlights a few anecdotal incidents of accidents. However, it also mentions, implicitly, that these vehicles have been operating for decades and are hugely popular in some areas. So what is the incidence rate? Not mentioned. What is the fatality rate? Not mentioned. How do these rates compare to other vehicles? Of course, not mentioned.
People are rushing to judgement based on a lack of familiarity with an industry and so are extrapolating anecdotal evidence to be more widespread than it likely is given that this article seems to have been searching far and wide to dig up any incidents it could, including even regular roadway crashes in the reporting.
There used to be 2 operators of these things in Britain.
After a series of incidents(fires at sea, sinking) due to shoddy maintainence by poorly resourced bus mechanics and questionable modifications made in a desperate attempt to make them, technically, seaworthy according to modern regulations, they have both shut down. I'm kinda surprised the US still has them in such numbers.
I did some further research here. We've had these commercial duck trip services since 1946 (that company is still in business!). According to the NTSB [1] more than go on tours with more than a million passengers per year as well. That number is probably up since that report was from 1999.
And the only two major incidents at sea have been caused by extreme human error. The 1999 issue was a mechanic leaving a 4.5" access hole to the hull unplugged. And the most recent involved the captain taking the passengers out into a serious storm with 70+ mph winds and 4-6 foot waves. Like most things in the media today this just seems like absurd sensationalism over an event that people can be emotionally exploited to click on lots of stuff about.
People are rushing to judgement based on a lack of familiarity with an industry and so are extrapolating anecdotal evidence to be more widespread than it likely is given that this article seems to have been searching far and wide to dig up any incidents it could, including even regular roadway crashes in the reporting.