CTA President Pushes For Expanded Safety Training For Bus Operators

By Danette Chavez in News on Jun 14, 2015 4:00PM

In the wake of the June 2 bus crash that injured nine and killed one person, the new president of the Chicago Transit Authority is pushing for improved and expanded safety training of CTA drivers.

The driver involved in that fatal crash, Donald Barnes, was issued two citations but no criminal charges were filed against him though the Chicago Police Department has said they are still investigating the accident. Barnes had been on the job less than a year, but had one of the most congested routes in the system.

This week CTA President Dorval Carter Jr. revealed that Barnes was only one of many—as it turns out, the least-experienced CTA drivers are often given the more difficult routes (usually downtown) because they lack the seniority and union backing to avoid such problematic trips. The CTA's route-assignment system has for many years allowed veteran drivers to pick their schedules; this seniority agreement has been repeatedly negotiated between the transit authority and the drivers' union. Although Carter said the route-assignment issue is the biggest obstacle his organization is currently facing, it's only one of the systemic issues that were brought to light by the recent accident.

Improving safety isn't simply a matter of putting a more experienced driver behind the wheel. As part of a cost-cutting move, the CTA employs mostly part-time operators, and only those with the best driving records are given full-time status. So there are many part-time operators working split shifts (with long breaks between) that result in 13-hour days, which means the CTA must then find a way to make sure these drivers get adequate rest between shifts to ensure passengers' safety. And because of the sheer number of employees working this kind of schedule, that's no easy task.

This scheduling issue isn't unique to Chicago—school bus companies and even regional airlines face similar problems. That's why Carter wants to follow the FAA's model and implement "a data-driven safety management system" to reduce the risk of accidents. Furthermore, Carter has asked for an additional week of training (it's currently a five-week program) to better prepare new drivers but also "strengthen oversight of more experienced full-time drivers to re-emphasize safety."

This new training/re-training program will be effective at the end of June, and drivers will also need to take refresher courses every two years. Carter has already met with the bus drivers' union, Local 241 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, to discuss getting more experienced drivers on the most congested routes. Tommy Sams, the union president, has said that while senior drivers will still get "first choice," Local 241 is willing to work with the CTA to improve public safety.