A Wake County school bus crashed into the side of J&S New York Pizza at Varina Station in downtown Fuquay-Varina Wednesday morning, tearing into the restaurant's outdoor seating area and building facade. Police, fire crews and EMS teams responded to the scene, and an ambulance was dispatched to the restaurant, according to witnesses at the location.
The crash was first reported by WRAL, which said photos from the scene showed the bus lodged against the building and significant damage to both the outdoor dining space and the storefront itself. The status of any injuries remained unclear as of the initial report. A witness told the outlet it did not appear that any children were on the bus at the time of the crash.
A Longtime Fuquay-Varina Fixture Damaged
J&S New York Pizza has operated at 500 Broad St. in Fuquay-Varina since 2007 under the management of the Cammarata family, according to Main & Broad. The family first opened its original pizzeria in Apex in 1995 before expanding to the Varina Station location, which sits in the historic commercial core of downtown Fuquay-Varina. That stretch of Broad Street grew up around a 1910 Durham & Southern Railway depot, per the Historical Marker Database, and remains one of the town's most recognizable historic districts.
WRAL reported it had reached out to Fuquay-Varina authorities for additional details and that its breaking news tracker planned to provide updates from the scene. The Fuquay-Varina Police Department, headquartered at 401 Old Honeycutt Road, is the agency responsible for investigating municipal traffic crashes and maintaining local incident reports, according to DeMent Askew. Under North Carolina law, drivers who lose control of a vehicle or fail to avoid a collision with property can be investigated under statutes including N.C.G.S. 20-141, which covers failure to reduce speed or maintain lane control, as documented by Kreger Brodish LLP.
The Strain on Wake County's Bus Network
The crash comes as the Wake County Public School System operates the state's largest school transportation network, running more than 550 yellow school buses to carry roughly 72,600 students daily across an 800-square-mile district, per records filed with the North Carolina electronic Vendor Portal. WCPSS drivers are required to hold a valid North Carolina Commercial Driver's License with Passenger and School Bus endorsements, pass DOT medical and drug screenings, and maintain a driving record free of reckless driving or major traffic charges within the past 60 months.
Wake County has also led Triangle-area counties in school bus-involved collisions in recent years, logging 251 crashes in 2023 and 246 in 2024, according to North Carolina Department of Transportation crash data reported by WUNC. Statewide, 1,125 school bus crashes occurred in 2024 alone, resulting in 258 injuries and three fatalities, per Department of Transportation figures published by Maginnis Howard. More than 14,000 school buses carry nearly 800,000 students across North Carolina roads each day, part of statewide safety campaigns the Department of Transportation runs each back-to-school season.
The district has also grappled with a persistent driver shortage. WCPSS expanded its non-transport zones for the 2026-2027 school year, requiring families at nine additional schools to arrange their own transportation, according to ABC11. That staffing crunch has forced the district to streamline bus routes and increase workloads on its remaining drivers as the new school year gets underway.
What Remains Unknown
It is not yet known whether the bus driver experienced a mechanical failure or a medical emergency, and official confirmation of any injuries from Wednesday's crash had not been released as of this report. It also remains unclear when structural assessments of the Varina Station building will be completed, or when J&S New York Pizza might be able to reopen its outdoor seating or dining room. Hoodline has previously covered nearby traffic dangers, including a fatal Harnett County head-on crash just south of Fuquay-Varina in August.
