Second attack on a B/O on Bx9 route have many concerned

[Via Garibaldi 8]

female bus driver was slugged in the face by a 6-foot passenger angry she didn't pull over at his stop, authorities said Tuesday.

 

Maria Hogan is the second female Bx9 driver to be attacked by a rider at Fordham Plaza in just three months.

 

The man punched Hogan, 45, late Saturday morning after quietly waiting for her to finish helping a passenger in a wheelchair leave the bus, she said.

 

"The punch hit me on the right side of my face, right next to my ear," a tearful Hogan said. "I ended up on the seat. I tried to push him away with my legs."

 

The man tried to pull Hogan off the driver's seat by the leg , but she held fast to a metal bar near the steering wheel, she said.

 

"All I was thinking was, 'Get him away, take him away,'" Hogan said.

 

Hogan said she had made several announcements that the 192nd St./Kingsbridge Road stop was closed because of construction and riders would have to get off at Fordham Plaza. As she was passing 192nd St., Hogan heard someone call out for her to halt.

 

She didn't turn to see who was making the request. Hogan's attacker cursed her just before swinging for her head, she said.

 

Hogan last saw him walking on Fordham Road with a woman and a little girl, she said.

 

"MTA bus operators perform a tough and demanding job that requires skill and patience," MTA spokesman Charles Seaton said. "This past weekend's assault is an outrageous insult to the thousands of transit workers who serve the public every day."

 

Marlene Bien-Aime, 48, another MTA driver on the Bx9 route, was pummeled black and blue by a teenager she told not to bring her Chihuahua on board.

 

A 17-year-old girl was arrested and charged with assault.

 

There were 59 drivers assaulted from January to August, an increase of seven over the same time period last year, the MTA said.

 

Tony Aiken, an acting bus division chairman with the union, said management is doing too little to protect workers.

 

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2011/09/14/2011-09-14_bx_rider_bashes_lady_bus_driver.html

[Via Garibaldi 8]

I'm still wondering why it is taking so long to get these shields in place to give B/Os some sort of protection???!?? :mad: The says they're doing more with cameras, but according to a report by NY1, this particular bus didn't have any cameras. This is why they need transit cops to do random patrols on troubled lines. It would also be interesting to see the number of fare beaters that are involved with assaults on B/Os. :mad: :tdown:

[QM1to6Ave]

Wonderful people in this world.

[MHV9218]

Please, watch the Nazi Banksters Crimes Ripple Effect at http://jforjustice.co.uk/banksters

[Q43LTD]

This is very unfortunate. I'm proposing bus operators carry guns or have undercover cops on the bus.

[akkuma2k]

wow thats sad, and to top it off this coward was with his gf/wife and child. There should have been an undercover on the bus and locked his behind up in front of his family. i bet that would have sent a message !

[qjtransitmaster]

This is very unfortunate. I'm proposing bus operators carry guns or have undercover cops on the bus.

 

WOAH guns err overkill much Let's stick with the undercover cops buddy. Let's not make it more HOOD like. I was wondering when you were gonna say that

[transit bx]

If I was a passenger on that bus, I would had punch the sh#t out of his girlfriend and ask how you like that. You would think someone on that bus would had at least try and help, or even someone from the outside of busy fordom streets smh.:mad:

[Q43LTD]

WOAH guns err overkill much Let's stick with the undercover cops buddy. Let's not make it more HOOD like. I was wondering when you were gonna say that

You were "wondering" when I was going to say that? Please

[youngblaze]

Damn shame...Whatever happened to those partitions they said they were going install on the bronx buses?

[engineerboy6561]

It's a sad day indeed when measures like Q43's suggestion start being reasonable... but on this I'd have to agree. At the very least employees on the ground (B/Os, motormen, C/Rs, S/As, etc.) should receive comprehensive self-defense instruction (possibly including firearms training) as part of paid training. I'd also issue S/As with at least a handgun and give them the necessary authority (though not the primary responsibility) to deal with assaults/robberies/rapes/etc. in their respective stations.

['89 Liberty MCI]

If I was a passenger on that bus, I would had punch the sh#t out of his girlfriend and ask how you like that.

 

How is somebody going to do that if they risk spending time in jail/prison? Even self-defense is hard to prove in court and you run the risk of being punished just for defending yourself.

 

You would think someone on that bus would had at least try and help, or even someone from the outside of busy fordom streets smh.:mad:

 

While I would advocate calling the cops, you might have some characters watching you pull out your phone and then they try to hurt or kill you because 'snitches get stitches.' I don't advocate using force though, because as I said I wouldn't want to get arrested or spend any amount of time in jail/prison. My family would probably be angrier than I would be if that happened. Not only would they be angry at the fugitive(s) involved, they would also be angry at me.

 

1 out of every 5 persons in the world is mentally ill. 1 out of every 4 persons in the city of New York is mentally ill. Involve yourself with said persons as little as possible. Bus operator is a risky job, as is any job in which you deal with the public and this is common knowledge. However, it is not as risky as a lot of other jobs. I don't support any of the atrocities that occur on the job (bus operator), but that's the way it is and we have to deal. Life is short, play hard. What goes around comes around. If somebody doesn't pay for a misdeed in his/her current life, (s)he will pay in his/her next life or afterlife. QED.

 

A troublemaker's life will fall apart in a hurry if it has not already begun to do so, and when this happens it will be hard for him/her to find help. I pity whoever is obligated to help him/her for whatever reason.

[Noflexdont]

Look the MTA not going to do anything. It is Cheaper to pay the operator that gets assaulted then to place shields on all there buses. Plain and simple this comes down to money. I was also told that the bus operators were complaining to the union about making driving unsafe due too glare and/or fogging up of the glass when i went to Zerega.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Look the MTA not going to do anything. It is Cheaper to pay the operator that gets assaulted then to place shields on all there buses. Plain and simple this comes down to money. I was also told that the bus operators were complaining to the union about making driving unsafe due too glare and/or fogging up of the glass when i went to Zerega.

 

Hmm... Well they need to do something then. I mean I can't see how folks can think that letting B/Os get beaten up is okay. My uncle drives in the city and he isn't exactly the biggest guy (maybe 5'10 if that), so you guys need better protection.

[Nexis4Jersey]

The MTA said there only installing Cameras on the Manhattan buses , but most of the attacks happen outside Manhattan. Meanwhile these incidents have spooked NJT into Installing them on every bus by 2013.

[R10 2952]

The MTA said there only installing Cameras on the Manhattan buses , but most of the attacks happen outside Manhattan. Meanwhile these incidents have spooked NJT into Installing them on every bus by 2013.

 

Cameras aren't going to help a bus operator who's being physically attacked. Partitions, on the other hand, CAN protect a bus operator in such situations.

[aemoreira81]

As I see it, it is beyond time to have all buses equipped with driver shields---and while it would not be cheap (I'm estimating about $1K-1500 per bus as a reasonable figure), it would be of better use than simple "make work" capital projects. Greyhound has shields on its buses now, but it took two deadly accidents and the loss of seven passenger lives to get them installed (the MC series buses never received them).

 

I would not install them on every bus on the roster...buses built before the 1999 RTS and 1999 O5 order in the local rigid series (excluding the C40LFs and O5 CNGs whose replacements are already on order), before 2705 in the express series, and 5510 in the articulated series, would not get shields, but all other buses should.

[KNIGHTRIDER3:16]

As I see it, it is beyond time to have all buses equipped with driver shields---and while it would not be cheap (I'm estimating about $1K-1500 per bus as a reasonable figure), it would be of better use than simple "make work" capital projects. Greyhound has shields on its buses now, but it took two deadly accidents and the loss of seven passenger lives to get them installed (the MC series buses never received them).

 

I would not install them on every bus on the roster...buses built before the 1999 RTS and 1999 O5 order in the local rigid series (excluding the C40LFs and O5 CNGs whose replacements are already on order), before 2705 in the express series, and 5510 in the articulated series, would not get shields, but all other buses should.

 

Great so it sounds like to me....Mad ops are still gonna have to take the Physical ish on these buses cuz thats pretty much the whole bloody fleet with no sheilds

[aemoreira81]

Great so it sounds like to me....Mad ops are still gonna have to take the Physical ish on these buses cuz thats pretty much the whole bloody fleet with no sheilds

 

Except for the 1998 RTSs, their replacements are all on order, and I would put in shields on the new buses if I ran things. The C40LFs will be replacing diesels.

 

I probably would put them in on the 5250-5509 batch of artics and the 1998 Novas, but the 1996 Novas, C40LFs (not counting 230), the 1000-series New Flyers, and pre-2705 MCIs represent less than 15 percent of the fleet combined.

[Hawk Operator]

WOAH guns err overkill much Let's stick with the undercover cops buddy. Let's not make it more HOOD like. I was wondering when you were gonna say that

 

Guns are not overkill, they are useful tools in creating a respectful and civilized people. Like all jobs, there are some though who should not be given any weapons.

 

I would had punch the sh#t out of his girlfriend and ask how you like that. :

 

Why the girlfriend? You want help out, then put the big boy down and ask him, not a woman with a child who is probably just as terrified by her man's actions.

 

Damn shame...Whatever happened to those partitions they said they were going install on the bronx buses?

 

The ongoing MTA/TWU hostile work enviroment continues, and then there are the B/Os who will find every little fault they can with any shield because no one is really sure on what to design.

 

Look the MTA not going to do anything. It is Cheaper to pay the operator that gets assaulted then to place shields on all there buses. Plain and simple this comes down to money. I was also told that the bus operators were complaining to the union about making driving unsafe due too glare and/or fogging up of the glass when i went to Zerega.

 

There are some minor issues with any clear transparent material with the visibility & strength to withstand daily usage. So instead of addressing and correcting jointly, the MTA's engineer management team creates, or bids out, without any real B/O input, installs one which is then complained about and then quietly put away. As for costs, from fabrication to install can be done in house, if TWU and MTA can stop acting like arseholes with each other.

 

Just my opinion.

[pjbr40]

You folk miss the point of the story on the attack. The bus driver had gone to back of the bus to get the wheelchair passenger off the bus. Upon returning to her seat that when attack began. How did the shield will help her in this incident? Why does woman never kick the man balls to get him off?

[akkuma2k]

because then it goes from being assaulted by a passenger to having a fight with a passenger.