Global Roaming: bus & tram news from around the world

Houston, we have a problem

School bus drivers in Houston, Texas, are fed up with rowdy kids.  According to their union, the drivers have been putting up with kids jumping out of moving buses, smoking marijuana, fighting and generally carrying on like pork chops.  One bus was even shot at.

Canada gets tough on idiots

Canadian MP Peter Julian has tabled a private member’s bill in parliament to impose tougher penalties on people who assault public transport workers.  The bill was put forward in response to the increasing number of assaults on transit officers and bus drivers in Canada.  According to media reports, the bill “lifts a curtain on the human zoo that is public transit”.

When you gotta go …

Still in Canada, a bus driver in Mississauga, Ontario, was suspended for five days for stopping to go to the toilet.  A spokesperson for the Amalgamated Transit Union called the suspension a “blatant violation of human rights,” and noted that “the last time we had to ask to go to the bathroom was during grade school.”

Slovak hijack

Police in Bratislava, Slovakia, are on the look-out for an armed commuter who hijacked a tram.  The commuter apparently thought the tram was going in a different direction.  Media reports suggest that a recent change in tram routes “may have caused confusion.”

Brussels transport workers demand safer working conditions

Transport in Brussels is in chaos after public transport workers decided to take strike action. Transport workers have been shocked by the death of a colleague who was bashed by a motorist following a minor traffic accident. A union spokesman said nothing would move in Brussels until talks had been held with the Minister.  “We expect clear and firm measures and no small steps – the security problem in public transport is not new,” he said.