Union president Jackie Jeter- @sknightschultz Bus driver almost hit a motorcyclist and then ran a red light. #wmata = safety
- @hyrcan #Wmata offices closed will call tomorrow about S1 bus #2155 unsafe/illegal right turn which nearly ran me over.
- @HemenMehta Did my #Metrobus driver just hit on another driver while waiting at a red light? Yes.he.did. #ohnohedidnt. #wmata
- @danielleRwest Think the D6 bus driver has a hot date. Ran a red light and appears to have applied some Brut aftershave. #fb #wmata
Tell Ms. Jeter how you feel: 301-568-6899/jackiejeter@atulocal689.orgA Metrobus driver fired after a deadly crash into a taxi and another canned for slugging a cop dressed as McGruff the Crime Dog are back at Metro, The Washington Examiner has learned.
Both men won their jobs back plus months of retroactive pay, the result of an arbitration decision between the bus drivers union and the transit agency. One driver is getting paid to sit at home while the agency determines where to place him. The other is expected to return to driving a Metrobus later this month.
Other items:
Victims' families angry by Metro's memorial plans (WaPo)
Assclowns all of them. I'd email her, but I wouldn't know what to say other than "you suck!"
ReplyDeleteI am no longer surprised. I got on the train at New Carrollton this morning and it pulled out at the usual about-7:22 am.
ReplyDeleteI got off the train at Ballston at 8:32 am. The platform was packed with people trying to get up the escalators. Got through the turnstile, took 4 steps and hit a wall of people trying to get up the second escalator - only 1 going up while 2 going down. I counted people coming down the two while I waited. A total of 24 people down 2 escalators while the lone one going up was so backed up you could barely get through the turnstiles to get into line. Took 10 minutes to exit the station. Should have been at my desk by 8:10. I reached my desk at 8:54.
The GM, union president and new chairman should be fired NOW!
As someone who was hit several years ago by a bus but not seriously injured, I urge all of you to do what you can to reign in these people. Thugs can't be allowed behind the wheel.
ReplyDeleteTake the circulator, walk, bike. Don't pay these goons' paychecks.
I can't believe this. Can someone (Congress, maybe?) step up to the plate and put these a-holes in their place? This is unacceptable!
ReplyDeleteI want to stop taking the bus, but then again, it's usually free because of broken fareboxes. Hard to turn down free!
ReplyDeleteHere's a nominee for the Metro quotes column: "These trains hurt when they hit flesh."
ReplyDeleteFrom a Blue Line train operator, this morning at a way too crowded Pentagon station, telling people on the platform to stand behind the lighted granite edge markers.
@homer
ReplyDeleteThe union would have to vote out the president, and honestly, why would they? She's done a great job for them. Today's news shows that.
Free is hard to turn down! Just this week, (5 rides so far) 3 have been free! Go MetroBus.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I can remember, the buses pose a threat only to pedestrians, joggers and other drivers, so if you're on the bus, you're good.
ReplyDeleteGO METRO; GET OUT OF THE WAY.
Some of us are not able to bus-only to work, nor walk or bike. I expect to die any day. It is not a joke; I truly expect every day to die trying to get to and from my job. Can't find another closer to home either. I am grateful I have a job - while I'm still alive of course.
ReplyDeleteI wrote to my Senators this morning and 1 Congressman. (The other Congresswoman cannot be reached if you don't know your 4-digit extra zip code. Glad I did not vote for her.)
Mikulski - Please dissolve the union and labor contract. Jail Jeter for criminal endangerment of the public at large. Reinstate the union. Call new elections.
ReplyDeleteChrist Almighty! I driver gets off a bus and punches someeone for not good reason? Anywhere else and he would be out of a job and legal action would probably be taken. Not metro; they take pride in employing violent people.
ReplyDeleteI really hope the person in the McGruff suit is suing.
I have given up and started walking. It takes about twice as long, but is about five times less obnoxious.
ReplyDelete(side note: my trip from l'enfant to columbia heights yesterday took 45 mins. they claimed that delays were caused by the nats game. um ... haven't they had since 2008 to figure out this exact issue? and ... isn't navy yard IN THE OTHER DIRECTION?)
Email sent. If I don't get an answer (not a form letter) in a few days I will start calling until someone can explain to me why they think it is a good idea to rehire (with back pay!) a violent driver (the one who assaulted the person dressed as McGruff).
ReplyDeleteThis is an outrage!
Email sent to Jeter as well. BCCed to Van Hollen, Mikulski and Cardin.
ReplyDeleteI emailed though I think these emails go into the same black holes as do the ones to metro cust service
ReplyDeleteThis is what I sent: I come from a long line of union people, so I appreciate the need for workers to organize. A union, however, should stand for due process, not lack of accountability. A bus driver who causes an accident that kills someone should be fired.
ReplyDeleteA union that does not stand for responsibility harms workers all over the country who are trying to organize.
And people react negatively when I saw the WMATA union protects criminals. How am I wrong in saying that? Every time we hear of the union doing something it's to protect and aid the criminals that work for them.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why people have so much sympathy for public employee unions in the first place? Is it just an artifact of the word "union" = standing up to big business?
ReplyDeleteGovernment isn't business. Isn't government a reflection of the will of the people? Think about it folks. When public employee unions fight city hall, they are going after YOUR tax dollars.
It's not like a steelworkers union whose gain may come at the expense of company profits (and shareholders), or higher steel prices.
Also, yesterday afternoon, the 31 bus (en route to Foggy Bottom Station) got into an accident on Wisconsin Avenue... apparently, a car tried to go around it, and the bus hit it. Not a good day at all.
ReplyDeleteNot a week goes by when I don't have a bus driver who pulls something illegal or downright dangerous.
ReplyDeleteHas Johnnie Cochran been raised from the dead?
ReplyDeleteYou have no idea how excited I am that every day I pay for these people's undeserved salaries.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think we should all start taking pictures of buses running redlights and start to post them.
ReplyDeletePictures would be nice if anybody cared.
ReplyDeleteLovely, I got a response from Ms Jeter. I have concluded that she is a straight up cunt. I cannot fathom how this woman is the public face of the union.
ReplyDeleteanon 9:11am:
ReplyDeletetonight my circulator driver pulled over and stopped on Pennsylvania Avenue to honk at a guy she knew. Then she gave him her cell phone number and told him when she got off work.
so I don't think taking the circulator is necessarily a better option. However, at least she didn't get off the bus and punch the guy in the face!
Labor laws need to be reformed and the DC unions need more transparency and regulation. I hate to sound like shill for the DC GOP, but until you start voting out labor-loving councilmen and transit board members, we'll contine to see idiot union heads and people WILL continue to get HURT.
ReplyDeleteThe three drivers that are the brunt of most of the criticism were fired mainly because of the media portrayal of their incidents. When the actual facts of the cases were investigated, a different story emerged. This is why they were returned to work.
ReplyDeleteIn two of the cases, there is a written arbitration award. Metro is free to publish the awards if it wants to. The fact is it would rather complain than let the truth be known.