The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority just made a bold move in electing to protect its bus drivers with tempered glass covers. Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (HART) officials are following the lead.
Today HART announced that it will outfit all buses and HARTFlex vans with driver safety barriers. The decision was made to support the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1593. A HART spokesperson told CL that the ATU asked HART for even more protection than some of the sample barriers being considered actually provided.
As a result, the barriers — which will go on 180 buses and eight HARTFlex vans — will be custom made. HART estimates each installed barrier to cost $5,000 and has allocated $1 million for the project.
The news comes less than a month after the killing of HART driver Thomas Dunn, who was stabbed to death on May 25.
"Following the senseless passing of one of our own, we voiced our concerns, and would like to thank HART leadership for listening to us," ATU International Vice President Curtis Howard said in a release. "We are working together to take immediate action to ensure that our operator-members are safe and that a tragedy like that never happens again."
"The safety and security of our employees remains a priority at HART as they serve our customers with the highest level of professionalism,” HART CEO Ben Limmer said in a release.
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This article appears in Jun 13-20, 2019.