RTC to look into fired bus drivers’ allegations

Friday, Nov. 14, 2003 | 9:16 a.m.

The safety of bus drivers will get a closer look next month from the board of the region's main transportation agency.

The Regional Transportation Commission board, responding to concerns raised by several former bus drivers, put the issue on its Dec. 18 agenda.

Steve Mora and Gene Smith -- drivers fired by operating company ATC earlier this year for allegedly protesting the company's five-year contract extension with the RTC -- told the board that drivers have been subjected to numerous physical assaults and that the RTC needs to do more to protect them.

Among the assaults were cases in which drivers have been hit with bottles and a driver was stabbed with a hypodermic syringe, Mora said. Bus drivers have been robbed at gunpoint and buses have been shot at and hijacked, he added.

"These are the types of things happening out there on the system," Mora said. "You are leaving these riders all alone ... You have a major problem here."

Smith and Mora said many of the incidents are not being reported to the RTC board members, who represent the elected local governments throughout Clark County.

Barrick Neill, ATC transportation director, said safety is always a concern. But, he said, Mora and Smith were exaggerating the extent of the problem. Within the last year, one driver was assaulted seriously enough to require hospitalization, Neill said.

Herbert Burns, a Citizen Area Transit driver, was hospitalized with a broken jaw and other injuries after an August assault.

RTC General Manager Jacob Snow said his agency is installing cameras in all CAT system buses to discourage violence on the buses and to try to ensure that there is plenty of evidence to successfully prosecute anyone who does get violent on a bus.

Mora and Smith are among the founders of the Transit Drivers Association of Nevada, a group that is fighting ATC and the Amalgamated Transit Union local representing the bus drivers. They also opposed the contract that the company and union signed in July 2002. That contract ended a contentious five-week strike by the drivers.

Mora, Smith and Ben Carter, another fired driver and association activist, have appealed their firings to the National Labor Relations Board and an independent arbitrator. Mora said they expect a decision from the arbitrator next month on their appeals.

RTC administrators and ATC company officials insist that despite some incidents, the CAT system is safe. The system consists of about 50 routes served by more than 300 buses carrying about 150,000 passengers daily.