![]() ![]() ![]() Department of Transportation.”ĪPTA, for its part, is insistent that agencies need more time to meet the requirements - about six months longer to comply with each deadline. “Safety is the North Star for everyone at the U.S. “FTA is working diligently to implement all requirements of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law as quickly as possible,” the spokesperson said in a statement. A spokesperson pointed to the deadlines it has set for transit agencies, as well as a variety of webinars and presentations on the provisions, as proof of the progress it has made. The FTA maintains that it is moving as fast as it can. It also requires the agencies to collect data on assaults and submit it to FTA. The language in the infrastructure package, pulled from a separate standalone bill, directs transit agencies to set goals for improving worker safety by reducing the rate and severity of attacks, and to include workers and unions in their safety planning processes. Of all the transportation industries, “transit is probably the worst right now.” And there are similar figures out of Illinois, Utah, Arizona and other states.ĭuring the pandemic, “it’s been well-documented that people, for whatever reason, felt that they can take out their anger and frustration on the men and women who are tasked with transporting them safely from point A to point B - which is wild,” AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department President Greg Regan said. Employees of New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority consistently report as many as six assaults per week. New Jersey Transit workers experienced 183 assaults in 2021 - triple the norm, according to leadership. But reports from local agencies indicate an alarming upswing in incidents over the last two years. National data on attacks against transit workers is incomplete and unreliable. “It leads to fewer people using transit then less money flowing into the system then fewer resources to solve the problem.” Workplace violence against transit workers “manifests itself in awful ways,” ZipRecruiter Chief Economist Julia Pollak said. And the group that represents transit agencies, the American Public Transit Association, is pushing to extend that timeline, which it says does not give its members enough time to pull together the requisite committees.Īs bus drivers, subway operators, maintenance workers and others face a growing risk of attacks, economists warn that the delay could hamstring recruitment and retention of transit workers, rendering the infrastructure bill’s $39 billion in new public transit funding less effective. One requirement: that transit agencies and unions join forces to form safety planning committees.īut the agency responsible for implementing the language, the Federal Transit Administration, says it doesn’t plan to enforce the provisions until the end of 2022. “It lets me down” that more hasn’t been done.Ĭongress passed long-fought-for provisions aimed at improving transit workplace safety as part of its bipartisan infrastructure bill in November, 20 months into a pandemic that saw violence against workers spike across industries. Some of the women even manage some of the garages.“Now, it’s like all the time,” Berry said of the frequency of such assaults on fellow transit workers. As a result, she thought about quitting several times because of security concerns.Īfter retirement, Wallace said she’s glad she stayed on the job to see how the CTA has changed over the years. Wallace worked nights, exposing her to passengers who tried to attack her. She said that handling a 40-foot bus was easy, thanks to power steering. Would get cheers from the ladies and stares from the guys,” Wallace told Chicago Sun-Timesĭoor, it opened up a whole lot of opportunities,” she said. Wallace recalled that she used to get mixed reactions from CTA riders on her bus routes when they noticed a woman behind the wheel. According to Wallace, she did not have a hard time with the other drivers, however, she noted that some guys were” jealous because I had my own private bathroom” in the bus garage. June 1974 was the first time Wallace drove the State Street bus and she grabbed headlines. ![]()
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