Assaults on drivers range from spit to pepper spray
By: Kytja Weir
March 24, 2009
Metrobus drivers were hit with eggs, spit, pepper spray and a rock last year.
In 2008, the transit system’s police investigated 70 assaults on bus drivers, a jump from 2007, when 55 cases were reported.
But the transit agency says the assaults were less serious than in the past. Six were considered aggravated assaults, down from 15 in 2007.
But the numbers may not indicate a change at all. Transit police say the increase is because they have been encouraging drivers to report all incidents. A February 2008 Metro report showed that 84 assaults occurred in 2007 — a difference from the transit police numbers for that year, which the agency says occurred because the bus division tracked its own numbers.
Yet with both sets of statistics, the cases show the backlash that drivers face in a system in which one out of every four buses is late.
Jackie Jeter, who heads the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689, which represents bus drivers, said transit officials have not done enough to protect drivers. They do not have working cameras in all buses, she said, which could help deter crime — or at least help police catch attackers.
“Maybe if they made an effort to show that they are protecting the operators, people would not think that they are fair game to be beat up. They must make it their priority and they have not done so,” Jeter wrote in an e-mail.
Last year, 15 bus drivers were spat upon, 12 had paper or food thrown at them, and five had liquid spilled on them. The agency also reported five cases in which drivers were pepper sprayed and two cases where drivers were pelted with eggs.
Metro officials have said they hope that assaults on bus drivers will drop this year now that paper transfers are no longer available for riders to change between buses. Some drivers faced riders’ ire when the drivers were asked to accept fake transfer slips. But the agency replaced paper transfers with automatic plastic SmarTrip farecards in January, so drivers no longer determine who gets a transfer.
Last year the agency looked into installing shields to protect drivers. Metro spokeswoman Angela Gates said the agency is working with the union and plans to make a decision in the next new months.
In April, the D.C. Council approved tougher penalties for those who assault Metrobus drivers or station managers. A similar effort in Maryland is pending, said Metro Transit Police Deputy Chief Jeff Delinski.
