North American buses are decades behind in safety standards, endangering operators, riders, motorists and pedestrians
Media Contact: President Eric Tuck
Hamilton, Ontario bus drivers are angry and are demanding major safety changes for buses that are endangering the health, safety, and lives of bus drivers, riders, motorists, and pedestrians.
Here in Hamilton, transit workers, represented by Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 107, passed a resolution at their monthly meeting calling on the Hamilton Street Railway to fix bus operator workstations to end the preventable accidents and driver injuries that plague HSR.
Assaults, verbal abuse, and spitting on operators continue to occur. Most transit buses have unsafe, wide window pillar designs and hazardous eye-level mirrors, which create large blind spots that lead to tragedy when drivers cannot see pedestrians crossing in front of them. These tragedies can cause prolonged health effects, such as PTSD and anxiety disorders.
Bus operators and riders must deal with unsafe air quality caused by inadequate air filters and ventilation systems that expose them to diesel fumes and infectious agents. This has led to a near-doubling of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) among operators. Poor bus suspension, seating, and ergonomic design causes a much higher rate of debilitating back pain and chronic health conditions for bus operators than the rest of the population.
“Vicious attacks on bus operators, dangerous driver blind spots, unsafe air quality, ergonomically poor seating, and primitive steering and controls are endangering bus drivers, riders, and everyone else on our streets,” said ATU Local 107 President Eric Tuck. “There are buses being used in Europe that address all these problems. It’s time for Canadian and American bus manufacturers and elected officials to adopt these well-established solutions and make our buses safe for everyone.”
The Local is calling for buses that have
• Protective barriers that can be quickly raised or lowered by an operator that do not obscure the operator’s view and that do not block air conditioning or heat from the driver’s workstation.
• Unobstructed views for bus operators that include open view windshields, minimal A-pillars connecting the windshield to the driver’s side window, and mirrors that don’t obscure an operator’s vision.
• Workstations that include “active” ergonomic seating, intelligent steering, adjustable pedals, and a dashboard and steering wheel that both telescope and tilt.
• Proper filtering of bus compartment air quality, rational location of air intake and exhaust from buses, and effective sealing and proper maintenance of engines, heaters, and air conditioning systems.
• Workstations that are free of roaches, bed bugs, other insects, and rodents.
The Amalgamated Transit Union is the largest labor organization representing transit workers in the United States and Canada. Founded in 1892, the ATU today is comprised of more than 200,000 members in more than 250 local unions spread across 47 states and nine provinces, including 3,000 workers at Greyhound Lines, Inc. Composed of bus drivers, light rail operators, maintenance and clerical personnel and other transit and municipal employees, the ATU works to promote transit issues and fights for the interests of its hard-working members.
On behalf of the professional men and women who have provided Hamilton with safe and efficient transit in Hamilton for over a century.
Thank you,
President Eric Tuck
ATU Local 107
905-902-4107
president@atu107.com