NJ TRANSIT WINS APTA’S 2023 GOLD AWARD FOR BUS SECURITY
NJ TRANSIT Recognized by the American Public Transportation Association For Its Bus Operator De-Escalation Training
April 26, 2023
NEWARK, NJ — For the third time in two years, NJ TRANSIT has been nationally recognized for its advancements in safety and security. NJ TRANSIT was presented the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) Bus Safety and Security Excellence Gold Award at the 2023 APTA Mobility Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota on April 25th. NJ TRANSIT was chosen for its De-Escalation/Operator Assault training program, developed by NJ TRANSIT Bus Operations that now includes an additional module introduced by the New Jersey Transit Police Department (NJTPD) and presented to front-line bus employees to help manage difficult situations and minimize the potential for employee assaults.
“Providing our employees with training to defuse difficult situations is critically important to improving the security of the statewide-bus system,” said New Jersey Department of Transportation Commissioner and NJ TRANSIT Board Chair Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti. “NJ TRANSIT is honored to accept this award and will continue to make safety and security a priority for all of its employees and customers.”
“NJ TRANSIT is honored to receive this prestigious award from APTA for our efforts to enhance the safety and security of our customers and bus employees, and proud of our bus employees and the New Jersey Transit Police Department for their outstanding achievements in safety and security,” said NJ TRANSIT President & CEO Kevin S. Corbett. “Our de-escalation training program is a vital tool to equip frontline staff with the skills and confidence to prevent potential assaults and is part of our ongoing efforts to protect customers and employees, and to foster a culture of civility and respect on our buses.”
“This de-escalation training is an important tool for our operators to maintain their safety while on the job,” said Senior Vice President of Surface Transit and General Manager of Bus Operations Michael Kilcoyne. “The ability to report and respond to violence or criminal activity at the earliest stage is critical to protecting our employees and customers.”
“Protecting our transit workers continues to be a top priority at NJ TRANSIT,” said New Jersey Transit Police Chief Christopher Trucillo. “Providing our employees with the best possible training to handle certain situations is critical to their safety. NJ TRANSIT is proud to be recognized as an industry leader for these important bus security improvements.”
This important training provides operators with the latest tools and measures to help reduce assault risks by defusing confrontational and volatile situations with difficult or dangerous customers. The training also provides guidance on how to report dangerous customers to alert NJTPD and/or local law enforcement of assault situations. The training also reviews the State of New Jersey’s protections for front-line public transit workers (an assault on NJ TRANSIT bus operators and train crews carries the possibility of a prison term of up to 5 years and fines up to $15,000). Similar training is also being provided to NJ TRANSIT’s Rail Operations employees.
APTA’s Bus Safety & Security Excellence Awards Program recognizes transit organizations and transit contractors for their commitment to improving the safety and security of transit employees, customers, and communities through application of effective safety and/or security initiatives. The Bus Safety & Security Excellence Awards Program is designed to not only recognize exceptional safety and security performance for individual transit providers, but to also better serve the industry by benchmarking successful programs for others to adopt and derive similar benefits.
In 2021, NJ TRANSIT was honored with the APTA Bus Safety Gold Award for its implementation of the Lytx DriveCam Event Recorder, a system of onboard cameras, data collection, and assessments designed to address safety hazards proactively, to prevent unsafe operator behaviors before they lead to accidents. Since the implementation of this system, there has been a 70% reduction in near collisions from 2010 to 2020. NJ TRANSIT has also been below the national average for more than seven years in regard to the frequency and severity of incidents.
NJ TRANSIT was also named the winner of APTA’s 2021 Rail Safety Certificate of Merit award for Commuter/Intercity Rail Systems for its work on Positive Train Control (PTC). PTC is technology to enhance rail safety by monitoring and controlling train movements. Using Global Positioning System technology, Wi-Fi and high band radio transmission, PTC is capable of automatically controlling train speeds and movements, thereby reducing the risk of accidents due to human error.
NJ TRANSIT is the nation's largest statewide public transportation system providing more than 925,000 weekday trips on 253 bus routes, three light rail lines, 12 commuter rail lines and through Access Link paratransit service. It is the third largest transit system in the country with 166 rail stations, 62 light rail stations and more than 19,000 bus stops linking major points in New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia.
This document and others are available for translation on njtransit.com.