More Bus Operators Punished for Using Phones At Wheel

ANGELO TANZI: Jamming devices can avert jams. New York City Transit this year has disciplined or terminated 170 Bus Operators for using cell phones while driving, a 60-percent increase from last year, the agency said Nov. 9, five days after a driver who had previously been suspended for cell phone use hit and killed a pedestrian on the West Side of Manhattan.

Agency spokesman Charles Seaton downplayed the spike, noting that the drivers were a handful of the 10,000 Bus Operators working at NYC Transit. Amalgamated Transit Union Local 726 President Angelo Tanzi, who represents Bus Operators based on Staten Island, said that his union had an agreement with the agency that the penalty for a first offense by a driver using a phone was a reprimand, and the second offense took into account other things on that person’s record.

‘Leave the Phones Off’

“We encourage our people to leave their phones off, leave them in their coats or their bags,” he said. “It’s against the law, which is the most important thing.”

Mr. Tanzi added that he had asked NYC Transit to install jamming devices in buses that would make it impossible for anyone to use a cell phone in the front end of the bus. Such devices, he said, cost about $80 each and are used in Israel in order to prevent bomb detonations.

“The technology is out there,” Mr. Tanzi said. “So maybe you could understand the driver when he makes announcements, and maybe the driver won’t be distracted because you won’t have people screaming into their phones.”

Bus Operator Jeremy Philhower Nov. 4 had just returned from a suspension for using a cell phone on the job to post negative comments about passengers to his Facebook page when he hit and killed Seth Kahn, who was racing across Ninth Ave. The driver’s cell phone records, however, showed that he had not used his phone during his shift.

Gene Russianoff, who heads the Straphangers’ Campaign, agreed that while there might not have been any wrongdoing in the case of Mr. Philhower, NYC Transit should take strong action against drivers who use phones on the bus.

“I take it very seriously,” he said. “There should be a serious penalty for a Bus Operator texting while driving.”