Bus Drivers ask for Better Protection in Light of Continuing Attacks

Manhattan, NY (WorkersCompensation.com) – Bus drivers with the Metropolitan Transit Authority in New York City want officials to take more action to protect them in light of recent attacks.   

At a recent rally in Upper Manhattan, bus drivers spoke out to demand better enclosures that would protect them from unruly riders, and for better police patrols on the city’s most vulnerable bus routes.   

Drivers said at least once a week, a bus driver is attacked by a passenger somewhere in the city.   

During the rally, drivers described being attacked. For Monique Rondon, the attack, with a shoe, came from a passenger upset over something non-transit related.   

"This big wooden heel. She hit me over the head," Rondon said. "She was upset that they cut her welfare case. I was a sitting target. I was doing my job. I was sitting behind the wheel. And she was upset at the system. Therefore, I guess I'm part of the system."  

Driver Diane Delgado said she was hit in the face with a bottle. And driver Wilfredo Tineo said one of his passengers spit on him.   

"I just want to let people know this is traumatizing," Tineo said. "This is degrading. This is disgusting. It is just so much emotion. This is what we deal with. You deal with this all the time."  

The rally comes just weeks after a driver was attacked and beaten for refusing to pull over in-between stops. Officials said a couple attempted to board the BX18 bus in the Bronx around 4 p.m. on May 5. The bus was between stops, and the driver would not let them on.   

Police said the couple then knocked on the doors of the bus trying to get on it, but the driver would not open the doors. As the driver made her way through traffic, the couple followed the bus on foot. At the next stop, the woman boarded the bus and threw an unknown liquid at the bus driver. When the driver exited the bus, the couple knocked her to the ground and repeatedly punched and kicked her, then fled the scene.   

The driver suffered pain and swelling to her face and body as well as bruises to her knees. She was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment and released.   

Officials with Transport Workers Union Local 100 said bus drivers are fed up with being disrespected and assaulted.   

They’re asking riders to share their outrage over physical and verbal attacks on bus drivers.   

"They're assaulting us," Rondon said. "They're getting arrested, and they're right back out to do it again to another operator."  

Union officials said bus drivers want buses with a “cockpit”-like design to protect drivers – complete with wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling barriers that would prevent riders from reaching the drivers.   

Additionally, drivers want more than just the “pop-on, pop-off” patrols that police do now.   

Sean Battaglia, the Manhattan division vice chairman for Transport Workers Union, said officers with the NYPD and the MTA police should be assigned to ride buses around the city. The push for more police presence comes as officials turn their attention on crime in the subways, as well.   

So far, MTA data shows, 15 bus operators have been assaulted and 542 have faced harassment this year.   

MTA officials would also like to see spitting on drivers changed from a violation to a misdemeanor. With a violation, police cannot take action unless the officer actually witnesses an incident.   

MTA Chairman Janno Lieber told reporters at a press conference Wednesday that he sympathizes with his workforce and insisted that the agency is actively working to get tougher penalties for lesser crimes like spitting, which is no longer uncommon. 
 
"Someone's just coming up to them and expressing their rage by taking a swing at them," Lieber said. "That's why the penalties and the deterrence really need to be up. That's why we're asking for this legislation."