‘Cages’ not enough. Durham bus drivers ask city for police protection after incidents

Durham bus drivers are asking for security officers to ride with them and patrol the downtown bus station to keep them safe.

GoDurham Access, the city’s transit authority, has recorded 100 onboard incidents along its 24 routes. Three drivers have been assaulted in the last six months.

The only physical injury to an operator came earlier this month and required relieving the driver to get medical attention.

“We had no protection on Sunday at Durham Station,” driver Tameka Walker, an 11-year GoDurham employee, told the City Council on Thursday. She said several drivers have been assaulted in recent weeks.

“Two individuals came down looking for a passenger on Route 3,” she said. “They had told the supervisor on the scene that they were getting ready to ‘light up’ the terminal. They noticed that there were no police officers here.”

According to Transportation Director Sean Egan, four of 59 buses currently have plexiglass barriers the driver can latch to seal off the driver’s seat from passengers

The agency has ordered eight more buses with barriers that should arrive this year and is calculating how much it would cost to retrofit the rest of the fleet.

When the new buses arrive, some of the older ones will be retained for training purposes and the rest auctioned off.

Fare-free bus rides

Mayor Pro Tem Jillian Johnson said “a lot of these issues” arose after Durham bus transportation became free in the spring of 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. While she supports keeping rides free, she said the recent incidents could be an unintended consequence.

“There are people who really don’t have anything to do and are getting on the buses and just riding around,” she said. “One of the unintended consequences of free buses, which I think is a fabulous policy choice, is it’s increased the number of people who aren’t using the buses to go anywhere, who are just using the buses to hang out.”

Overall, bus ridership remains below pre-pandemic levels. The average weekday ridership is roughly 14,000 now, down from 20,000 daily trips before the pandemic, according to transportation services.

In response to a question, Egan said the recent incidents are not related to one factor, such as mask enforcement, “but there is great deal of stress and strain on the Durham community caused by the pandemic.”

The operator safety barriers are not enough, another driver told the council.

“Today, I was on Route 3 ... and a young lady says, ‘Why did they put these cages on the buses? Because they don’t stop anything,’” said Percival Patterson, an employee of 23 years.

“So we are asking that we have somebody in law enforcement, ride these buses with us so we can be safe,” he said.

Meanwhile, Durham transit needs more drivers but has increased measures to retain and recruit new staff.

GoDurham has implemented wage and bonus incentives in recent months to improve recruitment and retention. Of the 139 budgeted bus operator positions, approximately 20% are vacant or unavailable for services, Egan wrote in a release to The News & Observer,

But safety remains a concern, Egan told the council, and the agency is working with police in areas where there have been incidents.

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