Grand River Transit

[MidTowner]

From the article: Over the past four years, Grand River Transit bus drivers have reported 11 physical assaults and seven attempts, 30 threats, and three cases of being spit on, said Gillespie.

S/he is a bus driver.  They are there to safely drive a bus.  All extra courtesy provided by the driver is a bonus.  The fact that this is just a partial shield and not a full enclosure boggles my mind why its even an issue.... I guess I'll have to agree to disagree....

Coke

Thanks for pointing that out. Those don't seem like particularly alarming numbers to me, but I guess that's obviously subjective. Without context (numbers of drivers, time spent driving, whatever), I don't really know what to think. Is GRT more dangerous than other systems? What's the cost of those injuries versus the estimated cost of having these things?

It's not true that "all extra courtesy by the driver is a bonus." I feel fortunate that none of the drivers I've had seem to think this is a case, either. GRT job posters and the like always say something along the lines of "being a driver is about much more than just driving."

Maybe, given all the fear people seem to have, shields are inevitably. In which case, the retractable ones might be the best we can get- drivers who want to be civil and provide service in addition to making the bus go can leave it open, those who think courtesy should be viewed as a "bonus" can do otherwise.