NEWARK, N.J. – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, ranking member of the Senate’s transit subcommittee, stood today at Newark Penn Station with members of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) and NJ TRANSIT workers who’ve been assaulted while on the job to push legislation that would both improve pedestrian safety and safeguard bus and rail operators from physical attack.

“If there’s anything I know about New Jersey commuters, it’s that they want to get to where they’re going quickly and safely. Likewise, our bus and train operators deserve to be able to go to work without fear of physical harm,” said Sen. Menendez. “This is about saving lives and preventing tragedies on our roads and railways.”

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Sen. Menendez recently introduced the Transit Worker and Pedestrian Protection Act with Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.), and Reps. Grace F. Napolitano (D-Calif.-32) and John Katko (R-N.Y.-24). The bipartisan legislation provides $125 million over five years to make critical safety upgrades to reduce the risks of pedestrian strikes and attacks on bus and rail operators.

“This legislation is long overdue and the ATU is thankful for representatives, such as Senator Menendez, who understand that we must do all we can to ensure that our transit workers and riders are safe and that our transit systems operate more efficiently,” said ATU N.J. State Chairman Ray Greaves. “Attacks on Transit workers and dangerous bus driver blind spots have created an unsafe environment that threatens transit workers, riders and pedestrians not only here in NJ, but all across our country.”

Transit workers have long complained of blind spots created by the positioning of the oversized, side view mirrors and windshield framing that hinder the operator’s view and have led to a series of serious, and sometimes fatal, accidents involving pedestrians. Additionally, after a series of violent attacks on bus and rail operators, transit workers have advocated for the installation of improved barriers, panic buttons and an emergency window or door to mitigate the risk and/or escape an assault.

The Transit Worker and Pedestrian Protection Act gives transit agencies two years to develop Bus Operations Safety Risk Reduction Programs in partnership with their transit workforce, and with oversight from the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT). Specifically:

  • Assault mitigation infrastructure and technology, including barriers to prevent assault on bus drivers
  • De-escalation training for bus drivers
  • Modified bus specifications and retrofits to reduce visibility impairments
  • Driver assistance technology that reduces accidents
  • Installation of bus driver seating to reduce ergonomic injuries

It also gives transit agencies two years to develop Rail Operations Worker Assault Risk Reduction Programs, by doing the following:

  • Conduct a risk analysis of assaults on rail workers, including operators and station personnel
  • Develop the plans in cooperation with their labor representatives
  • Include an implementation plan for rail worker assault mitigation

The Transit Worker and Pedestrian Protection Act would also require transit agencies to report all assaults on transit workers to the USDOT’s National Transit Database (NTD).

In January, a pregnant NJ TRANSIT bus driver, while on duty, was attacked and robbed in Elizabeth. According to published reports, her cellphone was stolen and she suffered bumps, cuts and bruises and was hospitalized for her injuries. Her alleged attacker was arrested last month and faces up to 20 years in prison.

Several transit workers, who have been victims of assault, stood with Sen. Menendez at the press conference and shared their stories.

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“She turns around and just punched me in my left side of my face, which caught me off guard,” said Ivy Boston, who was driving her NJ TRANSIT bus from Jersey City to Newark when she was attacked by a female passenger. “I was actually in shock. I put the bus in park and she hit me again with her purse. I tried to get out of the seat….The passengers called the police, and, to this day, I still think about what happened.”

“It was Memorial Day and I was driving the 39 line towards downtown Newark when three girls attacked me,” recalled bus operator Lisa Ramirez. “One of the girls asked me for her ticket, but I had already punched it. So, before I could give her a transfer, she went over me in the driver's area, and I said, ‘What are you doing?’ She then started hitting me. Then the other girls came and started hitting me and trying to pull me off the bus. When one of the girls started saying, ‘Where's my knife?’—that's when other passengers got them off me, and the girls ran off.”

In New Jersey, an attack on a transit worker while in the course of their duties is treated as a crime of aggravated assault. NJ TRANSIT has been actively working with county and municipal prosecutors’ offices to ensure all assaults on bus, rail and other workers are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

The agency has also established a formal Assault Committee comprised of operators, union leadership the Chief of the NJ TRANSIT Police Department, and the heads of Bus Operations and Human Resources to develop and install safety shields to protect drivers, and to pursue other measures to eliminate assaults, including teaching employees de-escalation techniques. NJ TRANSIT also is installing live-streaming video in our onboard camera system and 360-degree cameras on the exterior of many of its buses to improve safety and avoid accidents by providing operators a better view at all angles around their vehicles.

Funding provided through the Transit Worker and Pedestrian Protection Act could be used to advance those and other efforts developed in partnership with NJ TRANSIT and its employees.

The legislation is supported by the ATU, Transport Workers Union of America (TWU), International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers (SMART), AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department, and Teamsters. Representatives from TWU, SMART, and Local 60 Conductors and Engineers attended today’s announcement.