Transit Operators (ATU 714) Describe Violent Assaults in Testimony Supporting Driver Safety Legislation

PHOTO: Members of ATU 714 at the State House to testify on LD 2062.

Public transit operators with the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 714 testified on Thursday to a legislative committee in support of a bill to protect drivers from violent passengers. LD 2062, An Act to Enhance the Safety of Public Transit Bus Operators Through the Installation of Vehicle Security Barriers, sponsored by Sen. Teresa Pierce (D-Cumberland), would require public transit agencies to install vehicle security barriers that protect transit bus operators from assaults. The measure would also provide grants to public transit agencies for the purchase, installation and maintenance of vehicle security barriers.

ATU 714 member Michael MacDonald, a driver for the Greater Portland Metro Transit District, described to the Legislature’s Transportation Committee how he was assaulted by a passenger after he asked him to sit down on the bus.

“That was all it took and he rushed me in my driver’s area and pinned me in my seat leaning on the thin plexiglass shield,” MacDonald said. “At that point another passenger tried to control him a bit until I could work myself free after securing the bus. He was very angry and I got him out of the bus physically. He grabbed the bus trash can on the way out and was beating the door, the windshield and my driver’s window with the trash can telling me he wanted to kill me. When he finally got away from the bus I moved the bus from the scene. I didn’t call police I just wanted to get away.”

MacDonald said he almost quit that day. He said that a safer barrier door with protective glass would have made a big difference in the violent situation he found himself in that day. Greater Portland Transit District operator Rick Tabb described how an unruly woman passenger physically assaulted him after refusing to get off the bus in South Portland.

“She refused to exit, approached me, and physically assaulted me, causing lacerations on my face, with broken eye glasses,” wrote Tabb. “I was very upset and shaken from this assault. I called the police and they arrived 15 minutes later. The lady was arrested. I ended up going to Concentra for treatment, missing half my shift. I went back to work the next day. I didn’t know this woman, and never saw her again on my bus. Had there been enclosed Barrier Doors installed on my bus, this assault would have never happened. Please pass LD 2062.”

Greater Portland Metro operator Joe Thomas, President of ATU 714, says he too was assaulted after he asked a passenger to get off the bus for eating food and removing his mask, in violation of Metro covid policy.

“He called me a vulgar name, approached my driving space, and coughed in my face, stating, “here’s your covid!” He then broke the emergency exit door, exiting, and approached the front passenger door, and spit on my neck,” said Thomas. “Police were called, an assault charge was filed by the officer. The passenger was never identified, and I never saw him again. I was mentally scarred from this incident. Not knowing if this was a death sentence at the time. Not knowing  is never easy. But I continued to work, never missing a day. Had there been enclosed Barrier Doors installed on my bus that day, this assault would have never happened.”

The bill will have a work session in the coming weeks.