Metro is ramping up protections for bus operators in response to a series of assaults on bus drivers.
Metro’s board of directors approved the agency’s use of an emergency procurement designation to allow Metro to quickly retrofit their bus fleets to install barriers made out of shatterproof, tempered glass that will fully enclose drivers, according to Metro spokesperson Patrick Chandler.
Chandler says the emergency procurement designation will allow Metro to install these new barriers by the end of 2024 instead of over the course of three years through the normal procurement process.
Currently, Metro’s buses have operator shields, but anyone can still reach around and make contact with the bus driver.
A side by side photo comparing options of the enclosed barriers to be added to L.A.’s Metro buses.
Metro related assaults on the rise
Metro reports that assaults on operators have nearly doubled since 2019. In 2023, there were 160 assaults on bus operators, whereas in 2019, there were 92 assaults on bus operators.
In a report, Metro noted two recent incidents where in March, a rider hijacked a bus and held the driver at gunpoint, crashing the bus into the Ritz Carlton Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. And earlier this month, a bus driver was stabbed in Willowbrook.
And on Saturday, an argument between three people on a Metro bus in University Park on Figueroa Boulevard led to a stabbing…
Read the full article here
