NYC Bus Drivers Don’t Take Spit

New York City.  You either love it or hate it.  It's a big city.  It's tough.  It never sleeps.

Like their city, New Yorkers are hip, they're trendy and, all too often, they can be rather rude and rudeness...well, you know...rudeness can sometimes lead to bad behavior.

The Transport Workers' Union, which represents New York City's bus drivers has negotiated a unique benefit for its members who encounter particularly rude riders, especially those passengers prone to hocking loogies:

A bizarre policy has allowed city bus drivers to land an average of two months paid time off -- with one staying at home for more than half a year -- every time a rider spits on them.


The outrageous arrangement comes courtesy of TWU Local 100's strong union contract and the willingness of MTA officials to categorize spitting incidents as "assaults" -- even though the state penal code doesn't.


Of the 153 bus drivers who took time off because of assaults last year, 51 -- one-third -- did so solely because a disgusting rider decided to spew his frustrations, MTA officials said at a committee hearing yesterday.


And they averaged a whopping 64 days of paid time off for each incident, the officials said.


The number of days off ranged from a single mental-health day for some drivers to the 191-day debacle, the agency said.


[snip]


When an MTA bus driver reports a spitting incident, an agency team responds to the scene with a cleanup kit.


Some drivers just continue on their way afterward, and some are taken off in ambulances if there's fear of a health risk, Smith said.


Drivers need to get a note from their family doctor to get the free days -- and there isn't a limit to how much "assault time" they can take.


Many claim to have posttraumatic stress disorder. [Emphasis added.]

Despite an exhaustive search, there's no information available for what happens when a driver encounters pigeon poop.

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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

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One Fire & One Death as Crippling Transit Strike Continues in Philadelphia

Almost a million Philadelphians were left stranded on Tuesday, when the Transport Workers Union pulled a surprise strike at 3 am, crippling the City of Brotherly Love.

Although it does not appear to be strike-related, earlier today, an inspector was killed when a southbound commuter train was switched to the northbound to go around a another train with equipment problems. This is the second incident in two days.

According to the Wall Street Journal:

The strike, which began Tuesday after labor-contract talks broke down, has idled subways, buses and trolleys in the nation's sixth most populous city. Regional commuter rails continue to operate because their workers are in a different union, but two accidents have slowed or halted service on these trains.

Early Wednesday morning, a fire believed to have been caused by an electrical or heating malfunction engulfed a train car in West Philadelphia. The passengers--more than usual amid the strike--had been evacuated, and no one was seriously injured, said Richard Maloney, spokesman for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, or Septa.

On Thursday morning, a southbound commuter train in North Philadelphia switched to the northbound tracks to get around a train with equipment problems, then struck a 34-year-old inspector walking on the tracks. The inspector, Kevin Sparks, was pronounced dead on the scene, authorities said. Both accidents, which Septa said were unrelated to the strike, disrupted service along the lines for hours.

The train's operator in Thursday's accident didn't appear to have violated any procedures, and rail inspectors are supposed to assume that trains could approach from either direction, Septa's Maloney said. The Federal Railroad Administration is investigating both incidents, said spokesman Mark Paustenbach.

Although this is only day three of the strike, there appears to be no end in sight. Meanwhile, TWU Local President Willie Brown declares he may be the most "hated man in Philadelphia."