Free Republic

At issue is a vaccine mandate for BART workers in San Francisco that was imposed in 2021.. Rail transit officials in California’s Bay Area have been ordered to pay more than $7 million to transit workers who were fired because they refused to get a COVID-19 vaccine years ago. On Oct. 23, a federal jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California sided with six former San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) workers who had refused to get the vaccine for religious purposes. BART was ordered to pay the group more than $7.8 million, with...

Chicago is testing a mass surveillance tool to detect guns at CTA stations, even as debate rages around the effectiveness of another detection system used by the city, ShotSpotter. The Chicago Transit Authority announced Thursday it is one month into a year-long pilot program with ZeroEyes, a company that uses artificial intelligence to identify guns in surveillance video and alert police. The CTA says it has deployed the technology on about 250 cameras at L stations — but it won’t say which stations, citing security concerns. CTA spokeswoman Maddie Kilgannon defended the new technology as adding more “eyes” to its...

In 2018, regional planners affirmed an aspirational goal for Chicago transit: doubling ridership on buses and trains. Expanding transit was seen as critical to meeting the region’s goals to limit greenhouse gas emissions. And later the city of Chicago reiterated the idea in its own climate plan, calling to increase CTA ridership 20% over 2019 levels by the end of this decade. But the pandemic decimated ridership, dealing a blow to what advocates describe as one of the quickest ways to reduce emissions. Drawing people back will mean running frequent, reliable service that matches changing demand for where people want...

The CTA has committed to providing as many as 250 buses for use during the Democratic National Convention this summer, even though the agency has faced staff shortages that led to service cuts in recent years. The head of the union that represents bus drivers says he anticipates having enough staffing for both the DNC and regular scheduled bus service. But designating buses for the convention has some advocates concerned. “Pulling CTA operators from their regular routes to a specified task that doesn’t serve all of Chicago is of tremendous concern,” said Kyle Lucas, with the transportation advocacy group Better...

Crime on the subways has become significantly more violent since the pandemic with the number of felony assaults soaring when compared to pre-pandemic levels, an analysis by The Post revealed. The number of attacks on trains that left victims injured jumped 53% from 2023’s 570 felony assaults to the 373 reported in 2019, according to stats. Those 200 extra felony assaults meant that attacks resulting in substantial injury accounted for 25% of 2,285 major crimes reported on trains and in stations in 2023, compared to just 15% of the 2,499 major crimes in 2019, the data

Only days after one passenger shot and killed another aboard a West Side bus filled with other riders, Chicago Transit Authority union leader Keith Hill says he’s now open to seeing the Illinois National Guard provide security for the long-troubled system. “Since 2017, my call has been for extra security, a presence on the transit system,” Hill told The Center Square. “From a worker standpoint, the workers need to feel safe. When a person rides the system, they should feel safe getting from point A to point B.” Late Tuesday night, a 53-year-old man began waving a knife around while...

A serial transit offender that cops say should be in the subway crimes “Hall of Fame” was arrested for 171st time – but wasn’t prosecuted, according to police officials and sources. Michael Wilson, 37, was nabbed illegally selling MetroCard swipes in his 27th arrest in the past eight months alone but Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office let him off without prosecution “in the interest of justice,” according to sources. “If there was a hall of fame for Subway offenders — this guy would be a first ballot inductee,” NYPD Chief of Transit Michael Kemper wrote in a scathing X...

NJ Transit wants to hike fares an eye-popping 15% but may still face a massive budget hole in a year – a dire situation that has the head of the MTA mocking the Garden State’s governor. MTA chairman Janno Lieber roasted New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on Wednesday over his transit budgeting chaos, taking a dig at one of the most vocal critics of the planned congestion toll in Manhattan. “Phil Murphy said he was gonna fix New Jersey Transit if it kills him,” Lieber told New York state lawmakers during a budget hearing in Albany. “I’m not sure. He’s...

The rush to replace diesel buses with electric buses is not faring well in colder climates. The city of Skellefteå in Sweden has had to drastically cut short its electric bus service due to sub-zero temperatures. Marie Larsson, chief of the city's bus operations, explained, "at minus 40 degrees it is too cold for the electric buses. In hindsight its seems like we should've taken this factor into consideration before we invested so much time and money converting from diesel buses." In Minnesota, the cities of Duluth, Minneapolis and St. Paul are having similar problems. Metro Transit spokesperson Drew Kerr...

everal cities in Minnesota, including Duluth and the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, are facing challenges in transitioning their public transit systems to zero-emission electric buses due to operational difficulties in subzero temperatures, which significantly reduce the buses’ range. The efficiency of lithium-ion batteries decreases in cold weather, impacting the buses’ ability to hold a charge and provide adequate warmth for passengers during winter. Other factors such as increased rolling resistance and less effective regenerative braking system in cold temperatures also affect the buses’ performance. Metro Transit spokesperson, Drew Kerr, said, “Using garage chargers alone, electric buses can...

Proterra, which President Joe Biden once said was "making me look good," sold hundreds of electric buses to municipalities across North America. Every transit district Just The News spoke with, except one, has inoperable buses awaiting repairs. Across the country, towns and cities of various sizes envisioned an electrified public transit system that could shuttle residents with vehicles that produced no carbon-filled exhaust. Many of those communities purchased buses from Silicon Valley-based Proterra, which was able to produce 550 buses over its 19-year existence before it went bankrupt in August. The company announced last month it had concluded auctions as...

Here’s something coming without delays. New research warns that rapidly rising underground heat in subway stations is well on its way to becoming a “silent hazard” that will wreck transit systems and cause health issues for straphangers in the not-so-distant future. “Subsurface temperature rises can also cause transportation infrastructure and public health issues, such as overheated subway rails that force trains to slow down or stop to avoid incidents with significant economic costs associated with the delay of public transportation services,” warns Northwestern engineering professor Alessandro Rotta Loria in a study released Tuesday. Making matters worse, the hellishly hot platform...

In an effort to foster “support and belonging,” Pierce Transit leadership expects employees to use pro-nouns selected by coworkers, including “ze/zir/zirs” and “they/them/theirs.” If you don’t, you may be subject to discipline. Amy Cleveland, the Executive Director of Administration, distributed a memo titled “Pronoun Use in the Workplace” on March 8. It read that the agency, “recognizes the importance of using an individual’s preferred pronouns at work as a form of respect and courtesy.” The memo outlined employer expectations. In addition to using a person’s name or requested pro-noun, it says if you mistakenly use the incorrect pronoun, you should...

The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare for the District of Columbia and other major cities that public transit was a lifeline for essential workers and that even modest fares could be a burden to them. So the nation’s capital is introducing a groundbreaking plan: It will begin offering free bus fares to residents next summer. Other cities, including Los Angeles and Kansas City, Missouri, suspended fare collection during the height of the pandemic to minimize human contact and ensure that residents with no other travel options could reach jobs and services at hospitals, grocery stores and offices. But D.C.‘s permanent free...

Bright orange scooters now share — and sometimes command — Pittsburgh’s sidewalks. They’re an integral part of the Move PGH pilot project, the city’s plan to bundle transit options to help residents get around without owning a car, whether by bus, bike, scooter, zip car or more. Statistics reported by Move PGH, a year into its two-year pilot, are encouraging: People have taken more than 576,000 scooter trips for a total of hundreds of thousands of miles. They have biked tens of thousands of miles, and ridden Scoobi mopeds for more than 14,000 miles. Experience has dispelled Initial fears about...

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said on Thursday that the county will continue to require masking on public transportation systems, breaking with a recent ruling by a federal judge in Florida, which struck down the federal mask mandate on transportation systems. The department noted it is issuing a health order to say that masking will continue to be required in indoor transportation hubs such as bus and airport terminals and on all public transportation — including ride-shares, trains and buses — within Los Angeles County.

The chair of the House Democrats' campaign arm and some of the vulnerable members he's charged with re-electing are voicing support for a Republican-led mask mandate repeal bill. Why it matters: This would set up a potential showdown with the White House, which recently issued a one-month extension on the federal mask mandate for public transit and airplanes. The backing also illustrates how Democrats — especially those facing tough re-election fights — are trying to distance themselves from the pro-mask policies that defined their party for the past two years. "I'm completely over mask mandates," Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.),...

On two successive days, I traveled on the London Underground and the Paris Métro. One contrast between the passengers struck me very forcibly. On the London Underground, not more than 5 percent of the passengers wore face masks. On the Paris Métro, not more than 1 percent did not. The contrast was all the more startling because the wearing of masks was equally obligatory on both systems. On the London Underground there were many notices saying so, and occasional public address announcements to that effect. On the Parisian Métro, there were likewise public address announcements, though pronounced much more clearly...

DENVER — Trash, drug use and violence out in the open at Union Station’s RTD train and bus stops have employees demanding something be done about it. The union representing 2,000 workers for RTD and First Transit, RTD’s largest fixed-route contractor, alerted the community of the conditions in a Wednesday press release, calling Union Station a “lawless hellhole.” “It’s not safe to come to work when you have to inhale smoke from drug pipes,” the union said. They join riders and even some who are homeless in calling for action. ‘They have no respect’.. Union Station is a staple of...

The great global supply chain crisis of 2021 — which has ensnared groceries, holiday shopping and everything in between — has bottlenecked West Coast ports, and drawn the involvement of the White House to address it. As the disruption reaches a boiling point and adds to rising price pressures, longshoremen, union representatives and truck drivers have pointed fingers over which party is best positioned to alleviate some of the strains.... ...While the pandemic has exacerbated strains in the economy amid an unprecedented demand surge, a 2019 study published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics probed the dearth of truckers....