Buses World News

19.3.10

BUS DRIVERS PROTECTION * USA - Metro considers Plexiglas barriers to protect drivers

Seattle,WASH,USA -The Seattle PI, by SCOTT GUTIERREZ -March 15, 2010: -- After a bus driver was beaten and knocked unconscious while behind the wheel, officials with King County Metro Transit are exploring whether to enclose drivers behind Plexiglas barriers... The decision follows a high-profile case in which a female driver, 56, was attacked by a teenage thug while operating a late night route on Jan. 23 through Tukwila... Security barriers were suggested during a study four years ago on assaults and fare evasion but the idea was dismissed because some union members weren't comfortable with it, according to Metro officials. Now, both Metro administrators and union leaders have agreed to take another look... Some think a Plexiglas shield would have kept the driver's attackers at bay... (Photo: King County Metro plans to test Plexiglas shields as a way to protect bus drivers. This photo was provided by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which tried a pilot project in 2008)

Labels: barriers, drivers' protection

24.12.08

Driver-Protection * USA - Partitions to Be Tested on Buses

New York City Transit will begin a pilot program to test partitions that would separate bus drivers from passengers

New York,NY,USA -The New York Times, by WILLIAM NEUMAN -December 18, 2008: -- The test program was prompted by the death on Dec. 1 of Edwin Thomas, 46, a bus driver on the B46 route in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, who was stabbed to death after an argument with a passenger who had not paid his fare... The partitions will be tested on buses operating out of the Flatbush Depot in Brooklyn, where Mr. Thomas worked. Driver partitions are now being used or tested in bus systems in several major cities, including Chicago, Washington, Milwaukee and Baltimore, according to Mr. Fleuranges... 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...

Labels: drivers' protection