Due to several incidents, the last being the dog poop incident, Merlo’s 757 representative has petitioned through the grievance process to have all buses close their doors at layovers.
In a past incident, there was a pipe bomb discovered on the bus and the driver was written up for not performing a bus inspection! (Trimet true to form always blames the operators)
In another incident, the driver returned to his open bus to find someone rummaging through some personal property which then lead to a physical attack on the operator. The operator ended up in the hospital.
With all the interest in security nowadays, the open door policy when the bus is at layovers without the operators present is completely self defeating to the concept of security.
It’s too bad that the few rotten apples among us ruin things for the majority of us!
2 comments:
FYI, here's King County Metro's policy from The Book:
Closed Door Policy
Upon reaching the end of the line or arriving at
the terminal from a deadhead, you may request
all passengers to deboard from the coach. You
will not be required to board passengers until
two minutes prior to your scheduled leave
time.
Our entire handbook in case you're curious is at:
http://pstransitoperators.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/thebook-sept2010.pdf
-jw
If TriMet can find it in the budget to have security guards at PDX and certain other MAX terminus stations, why doesn't TriMet post security guards or Supervisors at bus terminus locations?
Not only would there be a permanent security presence that could inspect buses, make sure nobody does anything bad to the vehicles - but there would also be a permanent customer service person to answer customer inquiries about trips.
Other transit agencies do have posted security/customer service folks at major transit centers - many of the larger centers in the Puget Sound area have them; so did Salem's Courthouse Square facility. C-Tran has customer service offices at two of its three major transit centers. TriMet seems to be alone in having virtually no fixed customer service staff at any of the transit centers; or really anywhere, for that matter - for TriMet, one of the nation's largest transit systems, there is exactly ONE in-person customer service location, at Pioneer Courthouse Square.
Further, since TriMet refuses to build transit centers that have large capacity shelters for riders, it really is a customer necessity to have the buses available for boarding; yet it is also a security risk (how many times has someone joy-rided in a bus?) Look at the Parkrose/Sumner, Hollywood, Gresham, or Willow Creek TCs - all the bus riders have are standard, ordinary bus stop shelters! The shelters at Beaverton TC don't offer much protection especially during the rain; same with Sunset TC. Tigard has a half-way decent shelter but suffers from a lack of benches, and several of the bus stops are outside of the shelter. Barbur TC is probably the best in that it's almost fully enclosed; but it isn't a terminus stop except for a few short-line 94s and a couple of dead-head 94s that run back into downtown as 12s.
The Forest Grove terminus as well as Pier Park are more good examples, as is Meridian Park Hospital, PCC Sylvania and PCC Rock Creek.
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