Panic buttons in some Los Angeles shuttle buses hook up with nobody, plexiglass shields round drivers weren’t supposed to cease bodily assaults, and union officers representing drivers say different security measures touted to guard drivers are simply not chopping it.
“There needs to be extra,” stated Lourdes Garcia, secretary-treasurer and principal officer of Teamsters Native 572, the union representing town’s DASH shuttle drivers. “It’s the time to simply be sincere about what’s occurring.”
A collection of violent assaults has raised considerations concerning the security of bus drivers, prompting the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to declare an emergency over the assaults.
Throughout a June 5 L.A. Metropolis Council Transportation Committee assembly, L.A. Division of Transportation officers touted panic buttons on DASH buses, plexiglass surrounding drivers, coaching, video cameras and radios as measures to maintain drivers secure.
However drivers and union officers say lots of the security options fall flat. The panic buttons that drivers can press, for instance, don’t hook up with a dispatch heart or any emergency service. As an alternative, the button performs a recording directing passengers or others to name 911.
“You would possibly as properly simply be honking your horn,” Garcia stated. “It’s a must to depend on somebody, a Good Samaritan, to listen to it or, for those who’re on the freeway, somebody might not hear it.”
The considerations surrounding bus driver security have elevated after a number of reported assaults towards drivers, together with some that had been caught on video.
In a single incident Could 5, a feminine passenger attacked a Metro bus driver at Central Avenue and Jefferson Boulevard.
The lady is seen pushing and punching the feminine driver, who then kicks the lady in an try to get her off her again.
In March, a passenger carrying an airsoft gun hijacked a Metro bus, then crashed into a number of automobiles and the Ritz-Carlton resort in downtown Los Angeles.
One other Metro driver was stabbed in April in Willowbrook in an assault captured on video. The driving force could be heard yelling, “Assist me! Assist me!” throughout the assault.
Worries over security prompted lots of of operators to name out sick in Could, delaying dozens of Metro bus routes.
A lot of the eye has centered round Metro buses, however officers have additionally aired considerations about what security measures are being taken for DASH drivers, who function the free shuttle service in 27 communities, together with downtown Los Angeles. DASH buses feed into the county’s Metro transit system.
Los Angeles police patrolled DASH buses till 2021, when the contract with the company lapsed. Officers stated there had been plans to switch them with security ambassadors, however they had been by no means carried out.
Adriana Avila, president of Teamsters 572, informed town’s transportation committee that drivers have complained about security coaching classes that haven’t been held and bus radios that don’t work in a number of areas of town.
Some radios, she stated throughout the Jan. 5 assembly, don’t work in any respect.
The plexiglass surrounding drivers, officers famous, was positioned there as a precaution for the COVID-19 virus, to not cease unruly passengers.
“While you’re on the market, you’re by yourself,” Garcia stated.
The LADOT, which oversees the DASH buses, is at the moment working to repair the radio issues, a spokesperson stated.
“Guaranteeing security for each drivers and passengers on our buses is a high precedence for LADOT,” Colin Sweeney, spokesperson for the company, stated in an e mail. “In some instances, drivers have reported connection difficulties in sure areas of town akin to hillsides and canyons, and LADOT is at the moment assessing technical options to keep up communication with autos in transit always.”
Sweeney additionally added that buses bear pre-trip inspections earlier than every shift to makes certain drivers can join with dispatch, and that panic buttons are working.
However that isn’t sufficient, Councilmember Traci Park, vice chair of town’s Transportation Committee, stated throughout the June 5 assembly.
“Now we have eliminated our regulation enforcement companions from transit and, in [the Department of Transportation’s] case, by no means obtained round to changing them with ambassadors or something besides plexiglass and panic buttons to nowhere,” Park stated. “I really feel like our riders and our operators are left on the market to fend for themselves, unprotected. Radios and panic buttons and plexiglass right here and there doesn’t reduce it.”
Metropolis officers stated they plan to schedule de-escalation coaching for drivers, and assessment security measures that may be enacted to guard drivers, with discussions involving the Los Angeles Police Division, LADOT and union officers.
Garcia stated union officers and drivers are inspired that LADOT and the Metropolis Council at the moment are paying nearer consideration to driver security and onboard violent incidents, however she famous lots of the considerations being addressed had been aired by drivers months in the past.
“We’ve been telling you this,” she stated. “They’ve lastly obtained this sense of urgency to deal with the problem, and we welcome that.”
