Boston Herald | Thursday, April 11, 2013 | By Richard Weir

The T’s planned pilot program to install partitions in bus cabs to protect drivers from being assaulted by raging riders is getting mixed review from one veteran bus driver who told the Herald today he feels the glass cages could help some operators feel safer but could also impede others from assisting elderly passengers and moms with baby strollers.

“I’m not against it,” said the 42-year-old bus operator who said, during his more than 20 years behind the wheel for the MBTA on the streets of South Boston, Roxbury and Dorchester, he has been spit on four times and sucker-punched by cowardly riders. “But me, personally, I’m constantly up and out of my seat. I really don’t know how it would work. You would hate for something to happen and you can’t react fast enough. You can’t get out in t
The driver, who did not want to be identified because he was not authorized to speak, told the Herald that he frequently gets out of his seat to help seniors with their food carriages, disabled passengers with scooters and mothers with strollers. “That’s how I was raised. I go above and beyond the job,” he said, “I’m glad the authority is addressing it. I just don’t know what kind of partition it would be.”ime because of a partition.”

But she said there many drawbacks with the partitions, which have been tested at transit systems in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and elsewhere.

“There are many operators who don’t want it because it restricts their range of movement. You also don’t want to wind up giving a wrong or misimpression to your customers in terms of the issues of safety,” she said. “We certainly don’t want to stigmatize any particular group or community.”

Noting there is no “industry standard” on a specific type of partition, Scott said she implemented partitions on six buses while she was head of Atlanta’s transit authority and got back a split decision from the pilot operators.

“It was half and half. Some liked it and some did not. The complaint was around range of movement,” she said. “Some felt they were constricted, if in the event that they needed to be able to get out there was a problem. There were some operators who just feel candidly it’s more of a detriment from an overall safety standpoint…glare from the glass.”

But Scott said protecting the drivers is paramount and she also wants to install more video surveillance cameras on buses. Currently only 370 buses in the 1000-bus fleet have cameras installed in them.

“It’s a work in progress,” Transit Police Chief Paul MacMillan told the Herald. “We are working closely with the union, Local 589, and also with the safety department to see if we can develop something that will work for everybody.”