Utano to W'Chester Exec: Do More to Protect Bee-Line Bus Operators
JULY 22 -- TWU Local 100 President Tony Utano urged Westchester County Executive George Latimer to take action and help protect Bee-Line Bus Operators from assaults. “Our members are getting attacked and these attacks seem to be getting worse,” Utano told Latimer during a face-to-face meeting at the county executive’s office in White Plains on Monday, July 22.
Utano suggested county police officers be directed to board and ride buses periodically, particularly on routes that have had multiple incidents of riders abusing Bus Operators. The sight of uniformed police officers in the system will help deter some assaults, Utano said. “People will think twice about assaulting a bus operator if they know the police are paying attention to bus routes and our bus operators’ safety,” Utano said. “They won’t want to get arrested.”
After years of advocacy by Local 100, the MTA and NYPD recently announced they are putting additional officers into the bus and subway network to thwart fare evasion and worker assaults in New York City. Utano was joined by Carlos Barnabel, chairman of TWU Local 100’s Private Operations Division, and Frank McCann, senior organizing director. Utano also stressed to Latimer the importance of getting partitions on more Bee-Line buses to protect Bus Operators.
“That would be a significant improvement,” Utano said. Barnabel described some of the most recent assaults, including a June 12 incident outside the Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla. A rider pepper-sprayed a Bus Operator after being told she could only let the rider off at a designated bus stop, not in between stops. Latimer asked Westchester County Operations Director Joan McDonald to explore the possibility of putting county cops on buses. He also asked her to determine how much it would cost to retrofit existing buses with partitions.
The county is replacing its entire fleet with new buses that will come equipped with protective partitions, but that process will take years to complete. The top-level meeting was arranged with the assistance of Sen. Shelly Mayer, who was in attendance, along with Deputy County Executive Kenneth Jenkins.