Statistics cited by Newman reveal a .4 assault rate per million riders in Santa Clara County. What they disagree on is the effectiveness of the precautions that are already in place. Newman lists a number of safety measures that the district currently uses to help deal with the possibility of violence. We have silent alarms, closed circuit TV surveillance on some of our buses. . . . And of course there are telephones aboard the buses.
Buses are able to correspond immediately with our control center.
The district places the response time of their emergency radio system at a seven-minute average, a figure that the union disputes. What our documentation has proven beyond a doubt time and time again is that their data is in error. District statistical reports, for example, might show an immediate response time for an incident when union reports indicate that the driver was in fact met by security 10 minutes from where the emergency call had been made. According to McLean, the problem lies in the original intent of the radio system, which was purchased to deal with tasks other than the handling of security calls. The district currently works with the sheriff's department on its security issues, an agreement that McLean says creates jurisdictional problems.