RTA answers reader's questions about safety

Last month, the CO published a letter on its Forum page entitled "Open letter to RTA: Your driver almost killed me" in which a reader described an RTA bus driver, who could neither see nor hear her, closing the back doors on her as she tried to step off the bus across a 12 inch gap to the sidewalk.  The following letter is RTA's response.

Dear Ms. Coppola,

We appreciate you bringing this situation to our attention. We will investigate the incident you mentioned and work with this specific driver to manage improvements as needed. We also appreciate you as a customer and want to keep you and all our passengers safe.

Our main concern with all of our transportation methods is safety. The HealthLine vehicles were designed with a precision docking system that brings the vehicle very close to the platforms, so there should not be a gap. This allows our customers to safely ride, board and leave the vehicles.

The vehicles do have cameras that allow the operators to see all door openings of these high-tech vehicles for exactly the reason you mentioned, so they can ‘see’ passengers getting on and off the bus.

As for the vehicles being crowded, that is good news to us. We’ve seen more than a 50% increase in people using the HealthLine than the line it replaced, the #6. We do want you to be safe and this is what we suggest you do:

Since you mentioned you have a disability, we recommend you sit at the front of the bus in the seating area designated for those with disabilities, and use the nearby doors. We also recommend that you communicate with the operator directly to let him or her know that you need a little extra time to get off the vehicle. Sitting in those designated seats also means you have less distance to walk to the doors.

If you, or any other RTA customers, have any other concerns or questions about RTA, we ask that you call our RTAnswerline at 216.621.9500 so we can address those or email us at gm@gcrta.org.

We hope this helps. Please let us know if you have further questions or concerns.

Joseph Calabrese, RTA
CEO & General Manager, Secretary-Treasurer