With the recent murder of an MTA bus driver — the first since 1981 — the MTA is going to begin a bus partition pilot program. Ideally, the partition would separate vulnerable bus drivers from threatening passengers.
William Neuman reported on this plan late last week. He wrote:
The partitions will be tested on buses operating out of the Flatbush Depot in Brooklyn, where Mr. Thomas worked. There are 252 buses assigned to thedepot, according to Paul Fleuranges, a spokesman for the transit agency. He said it was not yet known how many buses would get the partitions as part of the test. They need to be designed, and it was not clear when the program would begin…
The pilot program was proposed by a committee studying bus driver safety and composed of representatives of Transport Workers Union Local 100 and the transit agency’s management.
The committee also proposed other changes that were still being considered. One would eliminate the paper transfers issued on buses to people who pay their fare in cash, according to a person briefed on the committee’s work.
It’s worth noting that eliminating paper transfers would also help the MTA capture more revenue from bus passengers.
I can’t argue against supporting safety for bus drivers. While it may seem as though the MTA is overreacting to its first murder of a bus driver in nearly 30 years, the agency reported 236 assaults on bus drivers between January 1 and December 9 of this year. That’s not a good number by any means, and if the authority can install something as simple as a partition to keep drivers safer, then they should do so.
6 comments
I’ve never really understood why the buses don’t come from the factory with partitions. Subway conductors and operators have locking partitions and token clerks have their protective booths, taxi drivers have their partition, so why have bus drivers always been left so exposed all these years?
It can’t be that much of a hassle to open a partition door to go and operate the wheelchair lift, nor could it really be that hard to put in a little drawer thing in the partition like they have in taxis for paper transfers (though I don’t even undertsand why they still accept coins on buses).
Even in the fiscal crisis, I can’t see a valid argument against giving bus drivers some basic protection. Driving a bus in the city has to be one of the most thankless, tedious, nail biting jobs imaginable.
> It’s worth noting that eliminating paper transfers would also help the
> MTA capture more revenue from bus passengers.
I don’t think the MTA would advertise different fares for different pay methods as a means of supporting this measure. In fact, I don’t think such a policy is at all politically feasible.
> though I don’t even undertsand why they still accept coins on buses
Again, politically impossible to require the purchase of a MetroCard to ride the bus.
I think they should just use the honor system already. It would make bus travel tolerable again, maybe even faster than walking.
Big question – you’re in the outer boroughs, a bus ride from the nearest subway station. How do you get a metrocard immediately, so you can pay the bus fare? That’s enough justification for accepting cash payments for bus fares. However, the next question would be – how do you make simple, one time payments easy to do?
I’m a bus driver and I was recently let gofrom my job because a passenger harrassed me and we had an altercation and he lost, so this is not the first time I have been assaulted and it won’t be the last time any driver is assaulted. The bus companies we work for, say they will protect there employees, but looks to fire them. Actions need to be taken against the companies and the passengers period.
There needs to be automatic arrest against any passenger, who assaults a driver. I just had a co-worker who was hit in the face with a bottle last week and they are sending her right back to work. NJ Transit.
[…] pilot program. Nearly three years ago, a bus driver was murdered on the job, the MTA vowed to pilot a bus partition program to improve driver safety. It took almost a year to install the first partitions, and Transit has […]