Metro warns of widespread delays as bus drivers angered by violence threaten "sick out"

Metro warned of delays on the system after bus drivers threatened to call a “sick out” Friday in protest of the rising number of assaults on operators.

The Los Angeles County Transportation Authority issued an alert that bus lines 18, 45, 53, 66, 70, 81,106, 108, 110, 111, 115, 134, 180, 206, 212, 246, 251, 487 and 720 could experience “significant delays.”

Train and bus operators have criticized Metro for failing to respond forcefully enough to violence on the system. Drivers have been the target of several recent attacks, including a man who stabbed a bus driver in Willowbrook while passengers watched. Last year, the agency logged 168 assaults, a slight increase from the previous year. The assaults included being spat on and being stabbed.

It remains unclear how many of the 4,500 unionized Metro bus drivers planned to participate in the “sick out,” but union officials said the action was not authorized. Under the union’s contract with Metro, strikes are not allowed.

In private Facebook groups, several workers said Friday that their divisions looked emptier than usual.

Metro pleaded with drivers to go to work for the thousands of riders who rely on them daily.

“Transit riders throughout Los Angeles County depend on the Metro bus and rail network every day to reach critical destinations including work, school, and medical facilities, and to care for their friends and family members,” agency spokesperson Dave Sotero said in an emailed statement. “We appeal to our operators to reconsider the impact their plan to call in sick will have on some of the most vulnerable people in the county.”

Sotero said the agency has taken several steps to increase security, including adding more security personnel on buses to deter assaults and creating barriers to protect drivers. Those barriers were approved last month and are set to be installed in buses over the coming year. The agency is “working on longer term plans, which include the addition of even more dedicated transit security bus riding teams,” he said.

“Bus operators are the face of Metro to more than 80% of Metro riders,” the statement said. “We understand their and their families’ fear in the face of the senseless assaults some have experienced primarily resulting from the twin crises of untreated mental illness and drug addiction. We share their frustration.”

John Ellis, who represents six union locals, has been working with Metro to install protective barriers. As the representative of 5,000 Metro bus and train operators for the International Assn. of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers union, he has been advocating for the agency to create its own police force. He released a lengthy statement Friday about the union’s efforts to bolster security, saying that by working “hand in hand” with Metro leadership conditions will improve security.

The threatened sick out reveals signs of internal union tensions as rank and file operators express outrage on social media about attacks.

“They just want the buses moving,” said a longtime bus driver who wasn’t authorized to speak to the media. “People are worried about not coming home.”

The driver said workers are concerned the new protective barriers are not bullet proof.

“Metro doesn’t care about its drivers,” the person said. “We are all expendable.”