The Milwaukee Transit Riders Union is an organization comprised of, and dedicated to being the voice of fare-paying bus riders in Milwaukee; advocating for better service and lower fares in the region.
Recently, a small percentage of Milwaukee bus riders who choose to evade paying the same bus fare everyone else pays, who contribute to disorder on the bus and even go to the extent of physically assaulting bus drivers have garnered a lot of attention in the local media.
Yesterday around 5:30pm, during a busy time on the extremely busy Route 12 an individual got on the bus headed Downtown. When asked for the fare this individual physically attacked the driver. The driver continued his run and was again victimized by this individual who damaged the bus window and threatened this same driver’s life. This is on top of another incident involving another driver just last week.
We condemn this violence against bus drivers. Bus drivers bear no responsibility for high bus fares; bus fares are determined in the budget. Bus drivers serve riders firsthand and fight hard to keep fares from going higher.
We stand with the drivers who have been the victims of these vicious attacks.
UPDATE: The transit system has suspended the driver victimized in yesterday’s assault.