Bill Text: NY S05684 | 2013-2014 | General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Relates to New York city omnibus safety requirements; defines terms; provides for the retrofitting of omnibuses with silent emergency alarms that are synchronized with existing bus GPS devices so that the location of such bus emitting the alarm is immediately known by the command center of the New York city transit authority.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-0)

Status: (Vetoed) 2014-12-29 - VETOED MEMO.583 [S05684 Detail]

Download: New_York-2013-S05684-Introduced.html

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                           S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
       ________________________________________________________________________
                                         5684
                              2013-2014 Regular Sessions
                                   I N  S E N A T E
                                     June 4, 2013
                                      ___________
       Introduced  by  Sen.  KLEIN  -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
         printed to be committed to the Committee on Cities
       AN ACT to amend the administrative code of the  city  of  New  York,  in
         relation to New York city transit omnibus safety requirements
         THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
       BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
    1    Section 1. Legislative findings. The occupation of driving an  omnibus
    2  available to the general public has become increasingly dangerous to bus
    3  drivers  employed by the New York City Transit Authority and its subsid-
    4  iaries. There has been an increase in the number of bus drivers who have
    5  become victims of  assaults,  verbal  attacks,  spitting,  menacing  and
    6  threats at the hands of bus riders. Unlike the work environment of tran-
    7  sit  employees  deployed  on  the subway trains, there is no discernible
    8  police presence on these buses, and the driver is relatively defenseless
    9  while operating a bus on a congested urban street, against an aggressive
   10  bus passenger seeking to harm him or her.
   11    The legislature finds that a safety partition between the bus  drivers
   12  and  the  passengers on the vehicle can be an effective deterrent to any
   13  harm being inflicted on the transit worker. Such  partitions  have  been
   14  highly  effective  in  protecting  taxi  cab and livery car drivers from
   15  aggressive acts by passengers inside their vehicles. A similar  require-
   16  ment  protecting  bus  operators  should  be equally effective and would
   17  promote public safety for the riding  public  on  mass  transit  surface
   18  vehicles.
   19    The legislature also finds that current emergency communication proto-
   20  cols of the New York City Transit Authority and its subsidiaries are not
   21  operating at an optimum efficiency level. Nearly all buses are currently
   22  equipped with a silent alarm mechanism which alerts the transit authori-
   23  ty's  command center that an emergency exists and also with a GPS device
   24  which can apprise the command center of the location of  the  bus.  More
   25  meaningful  information and more importantly, a more timely intervention
        EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                             [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                  LBD09645-01-3
       S. 5684                             2
    1  by first responders and transit supervisors, could be  conveyed  if  the
    2  two  existing devices worked in tandem with one another.  That the emer-
    3  gency alarm be synchronized with the GPS device so that when it is acti-
    4  vated  it can simultaneously convey the location of the bus sounding the
    5  alarm. The legislature finds these  two  common  sense  initiatives  can
    6  significantly  improve the safety on mass transit buses operating within
    7  New York city at a very modest cost.
    8    S 2. The administrative code of the city of New  York  is  amended  by
    9  adding a new section 10-171 to read as follows:
   10    S  10-171 NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT OMNIBUS SAFETY REQUIREMENTS. A.  DEFI-
   11  NITIONS. 1. THE TERM "OMNIBUS" OR "BUS" SHALL MEAN A MECHANIZED  VEHICLE
   12  PROVIDING  MASS TRANSIT SURFACE SERVICE TO THE PUBLIC OWNED, OPERATED OR
   13  LEASED BY THE NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT AUTHORITY  OR  ONE  OF  ITS  SUBSID-
   14  IARIES.
   15    2.  THE  TERM  "PARTITION" SHALL MEAN AN "L" SHAPED ENCLOSURE AROUND A
   16  BUS OPERATOR, CONSISTING IN WHOLE OR IN PART OF PLEXIGLASS AT LEAST  ONE
   17  INCH  IN THICKNESS OR SOME OTHER RIGID TRANSPARENT SUBSTANCE OF EQUAL OR
   18  GREATER STRENGTH, THAT WILL HAVE A HINGED DOOR OPENING TO THE RIGHT OF A
   19  SEATED BUS OPERATOR TO ALLOW FOR EASY INGRESS AND EGRESS.
   20    3. THE TERM "SILENT EMERGENCY ALARM" SHALL MEAN A DEVICE CURRENTLY  IN
   21  USE ON OMNIBUSES DEPLOYED BY THE NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT AUTHORITY AND ITS
   22  SUBSIDIARIES THAT WILL ALLOW A BUS OPERATOR TO SURREPTITIOUSLY ALERT THE
   23  COMMAND  CENTER OF SUCH TRANSIT AUTHORITY OF A CIRCUMSTANCE OR CONDITION
   24  CONSTITUTING AN EMERGENCY IN THE JUDGMENT OF THE OPERATOR.
   25    4. THE TERM "BUS GPS DEVICE" SHALL MEAN A DEVICE CURRENTLY IN  USE  ON
   26  OMNIBUSES  DEPLOYED  BY  THE  NEW  YORK  CITY  TRANSIT AUTHORITY AND ITS
   27  SUBSIDIARIES, THAT WHEN ACTIVATED, CAN IMPART THE EXACT LOCATION OF  THE
   28  OMNIBUS TO THE COMMAND CENTER OF SUCH TRANSIT AUTHORITY.
   29    5.  THE  TERM "TRANSIT AUTHORITY" SHALL MEAN THE NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT
   30  AUTHORITY AND ANY OF ITS SUBSIDIARIES  OPERATING  SURFACE  MASS  TRANSIT
   31  VEHICLES WITHIN NEW YORK CITY.
   32    B.  THE  TRANSIT  AUTHORITY  SHALL NOT ACQUIRE OR PUT INTO SERVICE ANY
   33  OMNIBUS AFTER THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS SECTION, WHICH IS NOT  EQUIPPED
   34  WITH A PARTITION DESIGNED AND SUFFICIENT TO PROTECT THE OPERATOR OF SUCH
   35  OMNIBUS  FROM  ATTACKS ON HIS OR HER PERSON AND IS ALSO EQUIPPED WITH AN
   36  EASY TO ACCESS SILENT EMERGENCY ALARM TO  THE  COMMAND  CENTER  OF  SUCH
   37  TRANSIT  AUTHORITY  WHICH  WHEN ACTIVATED, WILL SIMULTANEOUSLY CAUSE THE
   38  BUS GPS DEVICE TO SIGNAL THE PRECISE LOCATION OF  THE  OMNIBUS  EMITTING
   39  THE SILENT EMERGENCY ALARM.
   40    C.  WITHIN ONE YEAR OF THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS SECTION, THE TRANSIT
   41  AUTHORITY SHALL RETROFIT ONE-FIFTH OF THE TOTAL OMNIBUSES IT DEPLOYS FOR
   42  MASS TRANSIT SERVICE WITHIN NEW YORK CITY WITH A PARTITION, AND FOR EACH
   43  CONSECUTIVE YEAR THEREAFTER A LIKE PERCENTAGE OF ITS BUS FLEET SHALL  BE
   44  RETROFITTED  WITH A PARTITION, SO THAT UPON COMPLETION OF THE FIFTH YEAR
   45  AFTER THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS SECTION THE ENTIRE FLEET  OF  OMNIBUSES
   46  OPERATED  BY  THE  TRANSIT  AUTHORITY  SHALL HAVE A PROTECTIVE PARTITION
   47  INSTALLED TO PROTECT THE BUS OPERATOR.  DURING  ANY  YEAR  WHEN  ONLY  A
   48  PARTIAL  NUMBER  OF  BUSES  ARE  EQUIPPED WITH A PARTITION, DECISIONS TO
   49  DEPLOY BUSES EQUIPPED WITH SUCH BARRIERS ON ANY  ROUTE  OF  THE  TRANSIT
   50  AUTHORITY WILL BE MADE BY THE BUS OPERATION ACTION COMMITTEE IN ORDER TO
   51  PRIORITIZE DEPLOYMENT ON THE ROUTES THAT HAVE HISTORICALLY BEEN THE MOST
   52  DANGEROUS TO BUS OPERATORS.
   53    D.  WITHIN ONE YEAR OF THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS SECTION, THE TRANSIT
   54  AUTHORITY SHALL RETROFIT ONE-HALF OF THE TOTAL OMNIBUSES IT DEPLOYS  FOR
   55  MASS  TRANSIT SERVICE WITHIN NEW YORK CITY WITH A SILENT EMERGENCY ALARM
   56  THAT IS SYNCHRONIZED WITH ITS  EXISTING  BUS  GPS  DEVICE  SO  THAT  THE
       S. 5684                             3
    1  LOCATION OF A BUS EMITTING THE ALARM IS IMMEDIATELY KNOWN BY THE COMMAND
    2  CENTER  OF  THE  TRANSIT AUTHORITY, AND IN THE NEXT CONSECUTIVE YEAR THE
    3  REMAINDER OF THE FLEET OF OMNIBUSES OF THE TRANSIT AUTHORITY SHALL BE SO
    4  EQUIPPED.
    5    S 3. This act shall take effect immediately.