The Thursday attack of a bus driver, which was caught on tape, stoked concern among the other bus operators, NBC station WDIV-TV reported.
Henry Gaffney, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 26, which represents drivers, told local TV station WWJT that the drivers are "scared for their lives. This has been an ongoing situation about security. I think yesterday kind of just topped it off."
"It’s not just for my members, because if the drivers aren’t safe, the passengers aren't safe," Gaffney told the newspaper. "This is not the first incident. This is the incident that broke the camel’s back."
He described the incident to the Free Press, saying the driver was pulling away from the Rosa Parks Transit Station in downtown at about 1 p.m. when a half-dozen men between the ages of 16 and 22 began yelling for him to stop for a buddy. The driver has worked for DDOT for 22 years.
Treated for injuries "They got mad, he got off to tell the service inspector inside, and the next thing he knows they’re on him, beating him," Gaffney told the newspaper. Gaffney said it took police 30 minutes to arrive, according to the Free Press.
The driver was treated at a Detroit hospital for injuries and released, Gaffney told the newspaper.
Friday morning, a few residents said they were disappointed when their bus failed to show up.
"I'm standing here stranded," Barbara Johnson told WDIV's Lauren Podell. She said she had been waiting at the 8 Mile and Woodward Avenue stop Friday morning when media crews pulled up and broke the news of the stoppage.
"I don’t know how I am going to get home and how I am going to get to work," Johnson said.
"It’s not fair to people who have to wake up early in the morning and take the buses, especially when its their only transportation," Kelly Edwards told WDIV.
The walkout did not affect public school buses.
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