A Los Angeles city bus driver was attacked by a woman trying to ride DASH on Sunday, just two days after hundreds of Metro bus drivers went on leave for safety reasons.
In video captured by OnScene.TV, the driver can be heard telling the passenger to get off the bus as the woman steps over a protective barrier. The driver opens the barrier gate and pushes it, before the two exit onto the street, near the Los Angeles Police Department's Newton Division, at Central Avenue and Jefferson Boulevard.
The fight occurred around noon, according to Los Angeles police. The video shows the passenger pushing and hitting the bus driver, who defends himself against her, and at one point kicking the woman in an apparent attempt to make her back away. Witnesses said the fight occurred after the passenger refused to pay the 50-cent fare, KTLA reported.
The encounter did not appear to last more than a minute and the driver was treated at the scene, police said. But he underscored the challenges facing bus drivers and transportation agencies.
Bus drivers across the county have been dealing with increasing hostility from passengers. Assaults on transportation workers have tripled in the last 15 years, according to research by the Urban Institute. Between 2008 and 2022, federal data shows that the number of assaults that resulted in deaths or medical transport increased from 168 to 492 nationwide.
Although Metro drivers have faced several high-profile assaults in recent months, the DASH system, which is operated by the city in 27 communities, including downtown Los Angeles, has largely stayed out of the spotlight.
The woman was arrested but not yet booked at 10:30 p.m. Sunday, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
The DASH bus service feeds the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's bus and train network, where operators say they are worried about being targeted. Earlier this year, a Metro bus driver was kidnapped by a person carrying a BB gun and then another was stabbed as passengers watched.
The recent fatal stabbing of a security guard returning from his night shift on a Metro subway has prompted Metro's board of directors to consider facial recognition technology and crossing barriers to help prevent similar attacks.
But unionized Metro train and bus operators have criticized Metro for not responding quickly and forcefully enough to violence on the system.
