Board Receives ECAT Driver/Passenger Incident Summary Covering Last 3 Years

A couple of weeks back at our Committee of the Whole a discussion took place regarding ECAT bus driver safety.  The topic was a discussion of providing $200,000.00 barriers for driver safety.

Several anecdotal incidents were described about drivers feeling threatened.

I asked about whether or not drivers who had concealed weapons permits could carry their concealed weapon for their own personal protection---given the fact that ordinary citizens cannot be prevented from bringing their own concealed weapons on our buses if such citizens possess concealed carry permit (s).

Let's just say that topic of conversation, particularly the way it was reported in the paper, went over like a barbell thrown to a drowning swimmer.....

But one good thing did come out of that discussion at that meeting.

The board requested hard data on exactly what incidents have occurred on our ECAT buses over the last three-year period: We have now all been emailed this information by Interim ECAT director Tonya Ellis.....

Summarized in the table below, the incidents are broken up into three categories: assaults, threats, and miscellaneous incidents.

According to Director Ellis, these are the only incidents  reported and of which management is aware.  According to the information provided, "There have been no "major" reported physical assaults of bus operators by passengers in the last three years."  This very small list of incidents, I must admit, is somewhat of a surprise to me;  I would have thought there would have been many more on the list.  But these are only the reported incidents, so who knows how many incidents go unreported.......