RALEIGH - A review of city, federal and insurance records shows Raleigh buses rarely crash, logging 2.5 million miles a year with few wrecks more serious than a sideswiped parked car or a clipped rear-view mirror.

A North Raleigh shopping center has evicted Capital Area Transit from its property, citing fears over pedestrian safety. But between 2002 and 2006, CAT buses had six accidents that required medical attention away from the crash scene. The most serious, in 2005, happened after the bus got rear-ended by a car.

"I'll stand by our safety record till the cows come home," said Scott McClellan, CAT's general manager. "I think our folks do an outstanding job navigating something that's 40 feet long through city streets."

Four North Raleigh shopping centers prohibit buses on their property, a policy that requires riders who work and shop there to walk as far as a quarter-mile from their bus stop. One of those malls, Towne North on Creedmoor Road, listed fear of pedestrian collisions as a top concern.

In May, a property manager at Towne North wrote the city to announce access would end. In previous letters, Towne North officials described senior citizens afraid to leave the shopping center for fear of being hit by CAT buses, which came hourly.

Scott Farrar, partner in Craig Davis Properties, which manages Towne North, has defended the move on behalf of customers' safety but declined to comment this week on CAT's accident statistics.

The city is negotiating with Towne North officials to restore bus access. If those talks fail, Raleigh will pursue talks with the shopping center's next-door neighbor, Brennan Station.

A third mall, Bent Tree on Falls of Neuse Road, sees low ridership and won't be approached.

Officials at the fourth shopping center, Brier Creek Commons, say growth along northern Glenwood Avenue makes Brier Creek ripe for new bus access. The shopping center's location has transformed from a remote suburb to regional hub, making public transportation vital, wrote Joseph Dye, executive vice president of American Asset Corp. and Brier Creek developer, in a July 10 memo to Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker.

"Eventually," Dye wrote, "Brier Creek will be a critical link in the overall regional public transportation network."

Meeker welcomed the news at Tuesday's City Council meeting. "People ought to be able to travel there either by car, or by bus, or by bike," he said.

City manager Russell Allen said the city will hold meetings with shopping center officials July 23 and 24.

Raleigh contracts for bus service with Veolia Transportation, a European firm that runs bus and light-rail systems nationwide.

The city's fleet of about 80 buses covers 38 routes, traveling an average of 12 to 13 mph, McClellan said.

By the city's count, which includes even the most minor accidents, the fleet of buses had 44 accidents in 2006 and 26 so far this year.

Bus crashes are not recorded by the U.S. Department of Transportation unless a vehicle has at least $7,500 in damage or a victim leaves the scene by ambulance. Five such accidents took place in Raleigh between 2002 and 2006, federal records show. None of the accidents was fatal.

Two ambulance victims, a fatality or $25,000 in damage bumps a crash up to the "major" category. The only major crash happened in 2005 when a car rear-ended a CAT bus on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

"We're elated with the safety record," said Jeffrey Mann, Raleigh Transit Authority chairman. "We won't knowingly operate in an unsafe manner. We just won't do it."

Fatal bus-related crashes are not unheard of in Triangle.

In 2004, a Durham bus driver struck and killed a 25-year-old woman on Broad Street near Duke University's East Campus. The driver was later charged with involuntary manslaughter.

McClellan said he knew of only three bus collisions with pedestrians in his six years with CAT: two downtown and a third when a passenger tripped while running to catch a bus.

In more than a dozen interviews over a week's time, Raleigh's CAT riders seldom raised safety as a top concern.

Rather, they spoke of hourlong waits for buses, marathon treks across the city, and bus stops that lack shelters or benches.

Some doubt safety as a motivation for shopping centers' banning public transportation.

"It's just unabashed uppityness," said Winifred Smith of Cary, a retiree with two cars. "You can't tell me a shopping center has a safety problem when all its goods are delivered by semi."