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Examination of Passenger Assaults on Bus Transit Systems

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Examination of Passenger Assaults on Bus Transit Systems Examination of Passenger Assaults On Bus Transit Systems FDOT Task Work Order #943-26 University Master Agreement BDV25 FINAL REPORT December 2015 PREPARED FOR Florida Department of Transportation Office of Freight, Logistics and Passenger Operations Examination of Passenger Assaults On Bus Transit Systems Final Report Funded By: FDOT Project Manager: Victor Wiley, Transit Safety Programs Manager Florida Department of Transportation 605 Suwannee Street, MS-26 Tallahassee, FL 32399-0450 Prepared By: USF Center for Urban Transportation Research Lisa Staes, Program Director – Transit Safety and Workforce Development Jan Davis, Deputy Director – Transportation Finance, Management and Administration Contributor: Jodi Godfrey, Research Associate December 2015 Final Report i Disclaimer The contents of this report reflect the views of the authors, who are responsible for the facts and the accuracy of the information presented herein. This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the Florida Department of Transportation, in the interest of information exchange. The Florida Department of Transportation assumes no liability for the contents or use thereof. The opinions, findings, and conclusions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Florida Department of Transportation. Final Report ii Technical Documentation Page 1. Report No. 2. Government Accession No. 3. Recipient's Catalog No. 4. Title and Subtitle: 5. Report Date Examination of Passenger Assaults on Bus Transit Systems December 2015 6. Performing Organization Code 7. Author(s) 8. Performing Organization Report Lisa Staes, Jan Davis, Jodi Godfrey No. BDV25 Task Work Order #943-26 9. Performing Organization Name and Address 10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS) National Center for Transit Research Center for Urban Transportation Research University of South Florida 11. Contract or Grant No. 4202 E Fowler Avenue, CUT 100, Tampa, FL 33620-5375 FDOT BDV25-943-26 12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address 13. Type of Report and Period Florida Department of Transportation Covered 605 Suwannee Street, MS-30 Research Report September 2014 – December 2015 Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0450 14. Sponsoring Agency Code N/A 15. Supplementary Notes 16. Abstract This research provides a status report on the state of the industry and current conditions under which Florida public transportation systems are operating, and the type, severity, and prevalence of passenger assaults on these systems. The project team will review the time of day assaults are most prevalent; type of services on which they occur most frequently (i.e., paratransit, fixed-route, commuter/express route; and location (i.e., on board, transfer locations, bus stops). The goals of this research effort are to: 1. Identify the prevalence of assaults on bus transit passengers. 2. Identify the time of day within which the assaults are occurring 3. Identify the locations where assaults are occurring (i.e., on board, transfer stations, bus stops) 4. Identify any other environmental factors which may contribute to an increased occurrence of assaults 5. Identify any mitigation measures transit agencies have employed to reduce the incidence rate of these assaults 6. Identify any mitigation measures that may not be currently utilized by Florida’s public transportation agencies that may be deemed relevant and successful in curtailing assaults on transit passengers. 17. Key Words 18. Distribution Statement public transit, passenger assault, bus driver assaults, bus operator training, transit safety 19. Security Classification (of this report) 20. Security Classification (of this page) 21. No. of 22. Price Unclassified Unclassified Pages 115 Final Report iii Metric Conversion SI* Modern Metric Conversion Factors as provided by the Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/aaa/metricp.htm LENGTH SYMBOL WHEN YOU MULTIPLY BY TO FIND SYMBOL KNOW in Inches 25.4 millimeters mm ft Feet 0.305 meters m yd Yards 0.914 meters m mi Miles 1.61 kilometers km AREA SYMBOL WHEN YOU MULTIPLY BY TO FIND SYMBOL KNOW in2 square inches 645.2 square millimeters mm2 ft2 square feet 0.093 square meters m2 yd2 square yard 0.836 square meters m2 ac Acres 0.405 hectares ha mi2 square miles 2.59 square kilometers km2 LENGTH SYMBOL WHEN YOU MULTIPLY TO FIND SYMBOL KNOW BY mm millimeters 0.039 inches in m meters 3.28 feet ft m meters 1.09 yards yd km kilometers 0.621 miles mi AREA SYMBOL WHEN YOU MULTIPLY BY TO FIND SYMBOL KNOW mm2 square millimeters 0.0016 square inches in2 m2 square meters 10.764 square feet ft2 m2 square meters 1.195 square yards yd2 ha hectares 2.47 acres ac km2 square kilometers 0.386 square miles mi2 *SI is the symbol for the International System of Units. Appropriate rounding should be made to comply with Section 4 of ASTM E380. Final Report iv Acknowledgements This research report was prepared by the Center for Urban Transportation Research for the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), Office of Freight, Logistics, and Passenger Operations. The Research Team would like to express our appreciation to FDOT Project Manager, Victor Wiley for his oversight, management, and support of this research effort. We would also like to recognize and offer our thanks to the members of Florida’s Transit Safety Network who provided valuable input in the scoping of this project and review of information and data collected for this research. Finally, we would like to express our appreciation and gratitude to the many public transit agencies that graciously responded to our inquiries and provided input and data for this effort, including: Broward County Transit (BCT) Charlotte County Transit Division (CCTD) Collier Area Transit (CAT) Gainesville Regional Transit System (RTS) Good Wheels, Inc. Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART) Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) Lakeland Area Mass Transit District (Citrus Connection) Lee County Transit (Lee Tran) Central Florida Regional Transportation Authority, dba, LYNX Manatee County Area Transit (MCAT) Miami Dade Transit (MDT) Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners (Palm Tran) Pasco County Public Transportation (PCPT) Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA) Polk County Transit Services Division (PCTS) Sarasota County Area Transit (SCAT) City of Tallahassee (Star Metro) Transdev (Hardee, Highlands, Okeechobee, and Desoto counties) Volusia County Transit System (VOTRAN) Final Report v Table of Contents List of Tables .......................................................................................................... viii Acronyms ................................................................................................................. ix Executive Summary ................................................................................................... xi Chapter 1 – Trends in Passenger Assaults ..................................................................... 1 Background and Scope ............................................................................................. 1 Literature Review .................................................................................................... 4 Research Process .................................................................................................... 4 Assault-related Fatalities and Injuries ........................................................................ 5 Nationwide & Florida Trends – National Transit Database, 2008-2015 ............................ 5 Florida Trends – Aggregated Agency Incident Data ................................................... 9 Chapter 2 – Florida Transit Agency Procedures and Practices ......................................... 13 Profiled Florida Transit Agencies – Site Visits and Interviews ....................................... 13 Broward County Transit, Pompano Beach, FL ......................................................... 14 Central Florida Regional Transportation Authority, dba, “LYNX,” Orlando, FL .............. 16 Charlotte County Transit, Punta Gorda, FL ............................................................. 18 Collier Area Transit, Naples, FL ............................................................................. 21 Gainesville Regional Transit System, Gainesville, FL ................................................ 23 Good Wheels, Inc. Fort Myers, FL ......................................................................... 26 Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority, Tampa, FL ......................................... 29 Jacksonville Transportation Authority, Jacksonville, FL ............................................. 32 Lakeland Area Mass Transit District, d.b.a., Citrus Connection, Lakeland, FL .............. 36 Lee Tran, Ft. Myers, FL ........................................................................................ 39 Manatee County Area Transit, Bradenton, FL .......................................................... 42 Miami-Dade Transit, Miami, FL ............................................................................. 44 Palm Tran, West Palm Beach, FL ........................................................................... 47 Pasco County Public Transportation, Port Richey, FL ................................................ 50 Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, St. Petersburg, FL ............................................ 53 Polk County Transit Services Division, Bartow, FL ..................................................
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