Attacks on Bus Drivers Continue

Chicago, IL (WorkersCompensation.com) – A Chicago bus driver is fine after a passenger bit him last week. 

The driver is one of several who were attacked by passengers in the past seven days. 

Police in Chicago said on Thursday a CTA bus driver was driving through Noble Square in Chicago, when a female passenger boarded. The bus driver let the woman know that she had dropped some items on the floor. 

According to police reports, the woman became irate and attempted to get to the driver behind the glass guard as he was driving. The driver stopped the bus and tried to push her hands away. As he pushed her away, she bit him on the arm. 

Police said the driver was in good condition on Friday morning. 

In the Bronx, an MTA bus driver was attacked with a tree branch. 

Police said that a 39-year-old MTA bus driver had stopped her bus on East Tremont Avenue just before 10 p.m. when a passenger got off the bus and grabbed a tree branch off the ground. The suspect then took the branch and hit the driver with it. Before fleeing, the suspect then threw the branch at the driver. 

Police did not disclose a motive for the attack. 

In Boston, a passenger pulled a knife on a bus driver. 

MBTA Transit Police said a man got onto the bus at Boston Medical Center around 9 p.m. on Feb. 4 without a mask. When the driver asked the man to put a mask on, he pulled a knife out, lunged at the driver and threatened to stab him. 

According to the MBTA, employees have reported at least 24 “mask-related” assault incidents since June 2020. 

“It’s very troubling. These bus operators and other MBTA employees that are simple tasked with trying to enforce this mask mandate should never have to put up with this stuff,” MBTA Police Superintendent Richard Sullivan said in a statement. 

And in Portland, Oregon, a TriMet bus driver was pepper sprayed. 

Police said that the bus driver, Christopher Day, was driving on Feb. 1 around 7 p.m. when a passenger sprayed him with mace. 

Police arrested "Joseph Ransom, who goes by the name Mira Freja and uses she/her pronouns." Officials said Ransom is banned from using TriMet for 90 days, and was charged with assault, unlawful use of pepper spray and interference with public transportation. 

Day told KOIN News that he didn’t suffer any permanent injuries, but that this is the third time he’s been attacked on the job. 

“I was able to recover from the burning effects and all that stuff,” Day said. “Now, I’m sort of dealing with the mental, the fear and the anger that is taking place right now. I took today off to be able to decompress and get my thoughts together.” 

Nationwide, attacks on bus drivers have increased since 2020. In Atlanta, MARTA reported 29 attacks on bus drivers between March 2020 and July 2021. In Richmond, Virg., there were 28 incidents of attacks on bus drivers in 2020, and 35 between Jan. 1 and Nov. 1. In Austin, Texas, CapMetro said it has seen at least 55 cases of assault on bus operators since 2018, nine of which happened between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, 2021. 

The Amalgamated Transit Union, the union that represents nearly 200,000 bus drivers across the country, said attacks on bus drivers have been rising for some time. 

“In the past five years, we have seen a dramatic increase in the level and intensity of senseless attacks on defenseless operators. Drivers have been punched, slapped, stabbed, shot, and have had bodily fluids thrown upon them,” the union said in its report “Bus Drivers Under Attack.”  “And they are confronting all of this while trying to safely steer their vehicles through traffic, protecting the lives of passengers, pedestrians, and other drivers who are seriously distracted by today’s hand-held gadgets.” 

The attacks are taking their toll on the drivers. 

“The impact on these individuals is clear. Broken eye sockets. Deep puncture wounds. The loss of certain bodily functions. And while broken bones heal with time, the emotional scars linger indefinitely,” the report said. “Ironically, many operators who got into  this line of work in  the first place due  to their friendly nature now find themselves unable to interact well with people, especially strangers. Constantly looking over their shoulder in paranoia, many cannot come back to work. For women who are victims of unspeakable sexual assaults on the vehicles, life is of course never the same again.” 

The ATU is asking Congress to pass legislation that would provide all transit systems with the flexibility to use their federal funds on operating costs to keep service levels up and fares down, and to require new transit buses to be designed to protect bus drivers from assault.

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