Visible crew/equipment: On the train, Jack hears Mac saying the track isn't finished, then Jack becomes aware of the broken emergency stop button. When Jack walks back over to Annie and tells her they have to jump, we can see the reflection of the standing camera operator on the right door's window, and the reflection of a crouching crew member (possibly boom operator) on the left door's window. Definitely crew given they're meant to be alone on the train. (01:45:55)
Continuity mistake: Shortly before the bus gap you can see an END sign at the end of the road. This disappears a second later. (01:03:11 - 01:03:36)
Factual error: Harry is a LAPD SWAT team member. SWAT trains and trains and trains, then exercises and trains some more. Harry would not be investigating the case as shown when he asked to see the files for the last 10 years. If he was on desk duty for his injury, yes, he could be working the investigation. But soon after, he was on the entry team at Payne's house. That would have required more prep work by the SWAT team that Harry would have had to be doing instead of looking through the files.
Continuity mistake: When Jack handcuffs Ray to the metal handrail, Ray's right wrist has the double strand bars facing up and single strand bar facing down, but when Jack tells the passengers about the gap and then uncuffs Ray before the jump, the handcuff's single strand bar is facing up on his right wrist.
Revealing mistake: The Jaguar owner holds up the piece of paper with "bomb on bus" written on it, then he loses his grip on it, and when the paper lands directly on the bus windshield, the stunt wires are visible at its sides. (00:37:35)
Continuity mistake: The 2 SWAT team members are not visible on the preceding truck between two shots. (01:12:55 - 01:13:32)
Continuity mistake: After the first bus blows up, Jack hears the phone ringing. It is a two phone stand. When Jack first reaches for the phone to answer it you can see he answers the phone on the right hand side. To the right of the phone you can only see trees to the right side. In every scene after that, he is on the left hand side phone.
Revealing mistake: At the beginning, when they're talking about "shoot the hostage," the angle of Keanu Reeves is out of focus for a good five seconds. It drifts into focus.
Visible crew/equipment: The camera operator and camera are visible reflected in Tuneman's sunglasses. It's especially evident right before he crashes into the water barrels.
Revealing mistake: When the bus jumps the gap and comes into land, you can see there are no passengers, not even dummies.
Continuity mistake: In the cafe, Jack shouts to Bob "Have a good one" and holds his arm out with his coffee in his hand. When the shot changes and Jack is turning back to the counter, his coffee has swapped hands. (00:26:20)
Audio problem: Right before they get off on the first exit to city streets, there's a shot of one of the passengers (Helen) who makes a distressed moaning noise. Her moan has an odd noticeable echo that is very out of place.
Factual error: When the bus is forced to exit the freeway due to the stopped traffic up ahead, the exit taken is a curved exit and stays level. The storyline mentions this was the Western Ave exit from the Santa Monica freeway. The real exits for Western Ave (from each direction) head straight uphill to the street above and with no curves at all.
Revealing mistake: In the scene after the bus makes the hard right turn, it's moving towards the exit onto the 105 freeway. The bus is surrounded by cop cars and motorcycles - the camera angle is from the air. The bus slams on the brakes to avoid hitting the cop car in front of it - it's only a second but it's obvious the bus wasn't going over 50mph. (00:52:57)
Revealing mistake: The monitor Payne is using to the watch the inside of the bus is nowhere to be seen every time the inside of his hideout is shown. Only until it's revealed he had a camera hidden is the monitor shown.
Plot hole: It is never definitively stated if the bomb is tied directly to the axle, triggered by the speedometer instrumentation or throttle. Regardless, as long as the wheels keep spinning above 50mph the bomb will not explode by design. This means that if you lifted the wheels of the bus off the ground or you bottom out, you could keep accelerating without any speed at all. This could be accomplished in any number of ways. One example would be driving on grass and keeping the tires spinning.
Suggested correction: And that would accomplish precisely nothing. They know Payne is watching them and he explicitly stated no-one is allowed to get off the bus or he will detonate it, only making an exception for the injured driver. What good is finding a way to keep the wheels in motion if everyone is still stuck on the bus?
The mistake is suggesting that you basically find a way to stop the bus but keep the wheels spinning such as grounding it on a hill. Then while the bus is stationary, just (I'm assuming here) put a weight on the accelerator to keep the wheels spinning and then everyone just hop off and walk away. However, you're correct in that Howard is watching the live feed so would just blow the bomb when people got off.
I fully understood what the entry was suggesting, but Payne's demand that everyone stays on the bus under penalty of detonation voids it. Even if that wasn't the case, finding a way to somehow stop the bus but keeping the wheels spinning (such as lifting it with a helicopter) would be a logistical nightmare in that scenario. Their plans to drive on the otherwise unoccupied freeway and then circle the airport runway were much more practical.
The other glaring problem with "stopping the bus while keeping the wheels moving" is those pesky laws of physics. Momentum, kinetic energy, and inertia would all prevent that from happening under any circumstance that could be quickly cobbled together by any police department. I'm sure physicists and engineers could come up with something given a few months and a buttload of money, but for this example you could consider it impossible - especially without causing a lot of passenger injuries.
