After Fatal Bus Stabbing, MTA Will Try Partitions

In the wake of the fatal stabbing of B46 bus driver Edwin Thomas by a passenger earlier this month in Bedford-Stuyvesant, the MTA has announced a pilot program to test partitions that would separate drivers from passengers. The partitions will be tested on buses operating out of the Flatbush Depot in Brooklyn, the Times reports. A committee studying bus driver safety is also urging the MTA do away with the paper transfers issued on buses because it's a common cause of confrontation between drivers and passengers. Thomas was allegedly stabbed to death by 20-year-old Horace Moore after Thomas refused to hand out a paper transfer because he hadn't paid his fare. And the MTA also released a study showing that there were 236 assaults on bus drivers so far this year through December 9th, and 18 percent of those were related to fare evasion. (67 of the incidents involved the driver being spit on.)

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By John Del Signore in News on December 19, 2008 12:13 PM

Comments [rss]

Snoopy

It's a wonder the "brains" at MTA didn't suggest installing metal detectors on the buses. They can't afford video cameras that would cost about $1,000 a piece but are thinking about bullet proof cages that will cost probably $5,000 or more to install.

NannyState

An electrified "hot plate" in front of the farebox that a driver can use to zap a nasty 'guest' might come in handy...

Tar_Baby

Was the stabber really mentally unstable or was he just upset because he got disrespected?

JenChungsBaby

He let the guy on the bus for free and then objeted to giving him a transfer when he asked for one later. That's just plain crazy if you ask me. I'd leave a big box full of transfers in the front of the bus and let people help themselves.

PTG in nyc

But I thought that the driver who got stabbed did give the paper transfer, not that he got stabbed for not giving it out?

JacqueMehoff

I thought the main safety benefit with buses is the fact that you can exit the bus if there's danger.

might as well electrify all the seats and give it a press when a passenger is unruly.

Snoopy

If you can't control the animals in the zoo, don't drive through the zoo with the cages opened.

dschwarz

Won't work. The bus driver must exit the partitioned area to assist wheelchair passengers in boarding the bus. At that time he is vulnerable.

butter butter

what use is a partition if the driver exits the bus to fuel an argument with a crazy person?

this seems like an attempt at safety that is misdirected. why not have in place some sort of protection that in case he has difficulty with a passenger he can just summon mta authorities to remove the passenger?

matty

as someone who likes things seperated and in containers i like this idea.

they have speperators on some buses in chicago nad it makes everything look so orderly

Spirit of 76

Took them long enough. I wrote they should put the drivers behind protective barriers right after the stabbing. Although I suspect some drivers on the worse routes wouldn't mind having machine gun nests as well.

Snoopy

The driver that was killed left the bus and as he re-entered he was stabbed. So what might I ask will enclosed partitions do to solve the problem? Where do these people come from that come up with solutions that are irrelevant?

Are there statistics that show where a bus driver was assaulted? Was he sitting down in his driver's seat or was he standing up confronting some scuzz fuck from the projects?

chris lee

how about arm them with cattle prods..

Billiamsburg

There should be a law against allowing poor people out in public. Keep them in their projects and we can dump a vat of gruel through a screen in the rooftop once a day. Filthy subhumans.

JenChungsBaby

I don't mind being separated from the bus driver. I had a driver once announce to the bus that he wanted to drive us all to Florida but couldn't leave the state because he's on probation.