‘Always in the back of my mind’: Bus-related shootings fall hard on SEPTA drivers

Bus drivers called out from work more than usual in the days following a recent string of shootings involving SEPTA buses.

On March 7, a day after eight Northeast High students were wounded in a spray of bullets that struck a bus, 67 operators reported they were sick or needed to deal with a family emergency, according to SEPTA figures — 28% higher than the previous day. On March 8, there were 81 such operator absences, an uptick from the weekday average.

“It’s tough times. We want to be there for our employees,” said Christopher Valentin, assistant chief operating officer of SEPTA’s bus service. “We try to remain visible and hear their concerns.”

The agency considers at least some of the absences a sign of the psychological toll of gun violence.

Frontline supervisors checked in with operators, counseling was made available, and SEPTA management held question-and-answer sessions at depots across the city.

SEPTA is planning other tactics to treat and prevent trauma, such as training to certify supervisors in “psychological first aid,” Valentin said, therapeutic techniques to help people undergoing trauma or a mental-health crisis. The agency is also testing prototypes of bulletproof compartments to shield operators while they’re driving.

Operators were already concerned about a sharp increase in assaults by angry passengers, demanding that SEPTA take more steps to protect them. Gun violence ratchets up the fear, say some who pilot buses around the city. Statistically speaking, the odds of being shot on the job are relatively long — though that kind of math is cold comfort.

“It’s always in the back of my mind, that it’s something that could happen while I’m out on the road,” said Marcus McKnight, who drives the Navy Yard and Philly Phlash buses and is a transit activist who cofounded the Philly Transit Riders Union.

And yet, McKnight said, “something can happen while I’m going to and from my car [at work] as well.” Gun violence weighs on nearly everyone in Philadelphia. “Operators are just trying to do their jobs and make it home to their loved ones,” he said.

The operator is in a vulnerable position, alone, traveling to every corner of the city and concentrating on driving. “It’s always there,” said a city bus operator who did not want to be quoted by name because he didn’t want to get in trouble at work. The operator said a few colleagues have started wearing bulletproof vests that they purchased for themselves.

“It’s scary. The sad thing is we have no control,” said Brian Pollitt, president of Transport Workers Union Local 234, which represents transit operators. The union has been demanding stricter law enforcement on the transit system.

The fatal on-the-job shooting of bus operator Bernard Gribbin last Oct. 26 in Germantown hit even closer to home for his colleagues, Valentin said.

The next day, 115 operators called out, SEPTA data show. For the week, an average of 98 were absent each day. For comparison, an average of 77 operators a day have been absent for illness or family emergency since the current fiscal year began July 1, 2023.

The Burholme shooting, which left a SEPTA bus riddled with bullets, came hours after the agency’s police chief vowed a crackdown on gun violence, with officers searching suspects detained on other charges for firearms. Philadelphia police and the transit police say they have increased spot checks of buses.

That was in response to the third deadly shooting involving SEPTA bus riders in as many days. The night before, a suspect stepped from a Route 79 bus near Snyder and Broad and fired a 9mm gun through the open door, fatally striking a man in the chest. The gunfire just missed that bus’ operator.

The incident preceded the shooting deaths of Imhotep Charter High student the day before and that of a 27-year-old man the night before that as he was getting off a bus at Oxford Circle.

McKnight believes in stricter enforcement of code-of-conduct rules. Beyond transit, “We need to get back basic to enforcement of truancy laws,” he said. “Why is a kid on the MFL or the subway riding around at 10:15 a.m.? … Hold the parents responsible.”

But law enforcement is not enough, McKnight said. Young people need after-school programs, other healthy outlets and even places to hang out at a time when groups of teens are often unwelcome or barred from businesses.

“We only have ourselves to blame,” McKnight said. “When you don’t invest in big cities for generations, guess what? You have these problems with violence.”