Metro finishes retrofitting bus fleet with barriers to protect drivers from attacks

[ad_1] Metro’s fleet of greater than 2,000 buses has been absolutely retrofitted with limitations to guard drivers after a spate of violent assaults on public transit operators prompted an emergency motion to expedite including the fixtures earlier in 2024.

Metro launched its barrier set up challenge in 2022 and retrofitted a small variety of buses in 2023. In April, after a bus driver was fatally stabbed, transit officers expedited plans to complete armoring the majority of its 2,017 buses with protecting tempered glass to defend drivers from passengers, turning into the primary transit company within the nation to take action.

Different areas, together with Orange County and San Mateo County, have taken comparable steps to put in protecting limitations as assaults on transit employees have elevated, and the U.S. Division of Transportation directed transit companies throughout the nation to extend protections towards front-line employees.

Metro’s emergency declaration allowed the company to bypass coverage and swiftly purchase supplies amid provide chain points. With out the declaration, the method might have taken as much as three years to finish given the quantity of glass the company wanted to accumulate, Metro’s senior supervisor of communications Maya Pogoda mentioned.

Set up on the final bus was accomplished Monday. The limitations, that are constructed of metal and a laminated, low-reflectivity shatter-resistant glass, are supposed to guard drivers from bodily assaults similar to punches and thrown objects. The company used 55,000 sq. ft of glass.

“From this previous April to September, operators have been 58 % much less more likely to be assaulted on buses with absolutely enclosed limitations. We’ve additionally seen a major decline in spitting incidents,” Metro mentioned in an announcement.

Total reported crimes towards riders and employees throughout Metro’s system have been decrease this yr than final, in accordance with the company’s newest report from September. However on buses, latest knowledge reveals that the variety of such crimes elevated greater than 12% from final yr, largely attributable to a spike in reviews of battery, homicides and assaults towards transit operators. In Might, bus drivers held a sickout in protest of the variety of assaults on operators.

Metro leaders reiterated guarantees in September to enhance security after a second bus hijacking in six months and a fifth murder of the yr intensified issues amongst riders and metropolis officers.

“This is only one within the newest sequence of steps that Metro is taking to extend security for its operators and passengers,” Pogoda mentioned concerning the barrier set up.

Metro has additionally launched a weapons detection pilot program to identify hid firearms utilizing scanners on subway platforms reliant on AI expertise.

The company, which is providing free bus and practice rides on New Yr’s Eve till 3 a.m. Jan. 1, mentioned its bus system has supplied greater than 222.7 million rides throughout the first 11 months of 2024.