BusTalk

[Bill D]

From the Boston Globe:

"To help stem a rising fear among residents Dorchester, Roxbury, and Mattapan, the MBTA has begun formally escorting buses through crime-plagued neighborhoods, has placed more transit officers on its most notorious line, and has increased the number of security cameras monitoring passengers."

Link to the full article:

On some bus routes, T posts watchful guard

[RailBus63]

This story has a personal connection for me. Both my mother and father grew up in the Codman Square section of Dorchester and we lived down the road until I was 8. I have a lot of memories of this part of town, and while the area was already going downhill in the 1970's, it's disheartening to see how bad the situation has become since then.

In response to the escalating violence on these routes, the MBTA shifted ten camera-equipped New Flyer D40LF's to Cabot garage in 2007 (later increased to 20) and has also moved (slowly) to begin equipping the garage's NABI low-floor buses with onboard cameras as well. When the latest batch of D40LF's arrived, Cabot received the final 20 buses in the order but 16 of the older New Flyers are still there - I suspect they will probably remain for a while unless and until more NABI's get the camera equipment.