PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — In an effort to protect its bus drivers, SEPTA plans to pilot bulletproof compartments for operators this spring, when eight buses will be equipped with floor-to-ceiling enclosures, at a cost of $15,000 each.
SWAT officers on Tuesday demonstrated the effectiveness of the compartments at a Bucks County firing range. Officers simulated an attack on a bus driver by firing a number of 9mm and .45 caliber bullets at a glass enclosure with a test dummy inside.
The 16th bullet penetrated the glass and lodged in the dummy’s shirt.
Chad Beach of Custom Glass Solutions, the firm fabricating the enclosures for SEPTA, said it wouldn’t have injured the driver.
“The bullet came through, but the lethal aspects of that bullet — velocity, energy — were significantly reduced by the window,” he said, “and it would have protected the driver. The barrier would have done its job.”
Protecting his members was a key contract issue for Transport Workers Union Local 234 president Brian Pollitt last year. He said bus operators often encounter people who are mentally ill, or under the influence of drugs.
“They’re in dire straits. They have nothing to lose and the first person they see is our operators,” Pollitt said. “That’s been the base since the pandemic. And then we had Bernard Gribbin.”
Gribbin, a Route 23 bus driver, was shot and killed on duty in 2023. After his death, Pollitt said, union members insisted on more protection for bus drivers. “Every day that these guys and girls come to work, they’re worried and I’m worried,” he said.
Beach says SEPTA will be the first transit agency in the country to have bullet-resistant enclosures for bus drivers.