UTU Bus News Digest - November, 1999

UTU Bus Department News Digest
Information of interest to transportation employees November, 1999

Slants & Trends

Any Transportation Officials trying to convince legislators to invest in transit projects could get support from a new study sponsored by the American Public Transit Association's (APTA) business members

In essence, the report documents evidence that every dollar invested in transit is returned to the local economy several times over in terms of greater productivity and new jobs. Key findings of the report include:

For each $10 million invested in transit, 314 jobs are created the year after the investment is made;

Transit operations provide a direct infusion to local economies, with more that 570 jobs created for each $10 million invested;

Businesses win sales three times greater than the investment in transit capital that created the economic activity. A typical $10 million transit investment will produce $30 million in sales;

Transit operations spending also help businesses, with each $10 million invested leading to a $32 million increase in sales;

Highway users and transit users together save more than $15 million in transportation costs for every $10 million invested in transit in major metropolitan areas. The costs include costs for operations, fuel and congestion; and

Overall transportation user impacts create savings to business operations, and increase the overall efficiency of the economy, positively affecting business sales and household incomes.

For copies of the study, which was done by Cambridge Systematics Inc., call APTA's Rose Gandee at (202) 898-4089, or e-mail: rgan-dee@apta.com.

N.Y. Lawsuit tests liability of transit for letting off riders at bad stops

The trial that began last week in a lawsuit in Buffalo, N.Y., could have broad repercussions for the liability of transit agencies that let riders off at dangerous stops.

The case involves a 17-year old girl who was struck and killed by a dump truck while crossing a busy street. She had to cross the street to get to her job at a shopping mall.

Moments earlier, a Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA) bus had let the girl off on the other side of the street at one of its regular stops. The transit agency had no stops on the shopping mall property or even on the side of the street closest to the mall. The only way bus riders could reach the mall was by crossing the dangerous street, which also lacked a pedestrian crosswalk.

In addition to the shopping mall owners and the dump truck driver, the lawsuit by Cynthia Wiggins' family names the NFTA as one of the defendants. The lawsuit claims $150 million in damages. The trial, which includes high-powered lawyers, is expected to last into December.

NFTA should know of danger, family says

The NFTA was negligent for dropping off a rider alongside a street they knew or should have known was dangerous, the Wiggins' attorney says. The transit agency should have a least dropped off riders near a crosswalk and preferably on the shopping mall property, the Wiggins family says.

The transit agency says it fulfilled its obligation to Wiggins by taking her safely to the stop where she wanted to be let off. Any calamities that befell her afterward, including getting hit while crossing seven lanes of traffic, was not the transit providers' fault, the NFTA says. In fact, Wiggins caused her own death by jaywalking, according to the transit agency's attorneys.

NFTA officials contacted last week by Urban Transport News refused to comment, citing the ongoing litigation.

The Wiggins family also accuses the shopping mall owners of racism by trying to keep inner-city black residents who commonly use transit from gaining easy access to their stores. The family hired attorney Johnnie Cochran, who represented O. J. Simpson, to take their case. The NFTA said it tried to get a bus stop on shopping mall property, but the owners refused.

The case already has been covered extensively by the national news media. The Washington Post, ABC's Nightline, Time magazine and National Public Radio all have followed the story.

So far, Cochran has tried to depict the NFTA as a bureaucracy that ignored warnings from its own bus drivers that the Route 6 stop near the Walden Galleria was dangerous. Even New York State Supreme Court Justice Vincent Doyle said the NFTA's attitude could be described as "arrogance."

If the jury does find that the NFTA. the shopping mall owners or the dump truck driver were negligent, the liability could be shared. For example, if Wiggins was 50 percent responsible for her own death, the defendants would have to pay damages equal to the other 50 percent of the blame.

Passengers hit while transferring can sue transit agencies for injury

Passengers who are hit by cars while transferring between public transit vehicles can sue the transit agencies for damages, a Pennsylvania court rules last month.

In fact, the court said, the transit customers still are considered "occupants" of the transit vehicles even if they are standing in the street. The definition of customers as "occupants" of the vehicles is important because it means the transit agencies can be sued as common carriers.

The case involved Tenisha Walker, who was struck by a hit-and-run driver in February 1996. Walker had been riding a Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) trolley on her way home from work.

Walker got off the trolley to transfer to a SEPTA bus across the street. She was hit by a car while crossing the intersection.

Walker lacked insurance and filed a claim with a state insurance fund called the Assigned Claims Plan. The Assigned Claims Plan blamed SEPTA for Walker's injury and filed a claim to have the transit agency to pay for compensation.

The Assigned Claims Plan said that because Walker was leaving one SEPTA vehicle to board another, she was technically still an "occupant" of the transit authority's vehicles.

Under Pennsylvania law, a person can qualify as an occupant of a vehicle if they are injured while walking or standing outside it, if there is a connection between the injury and use of the vehicle.

The trial court ruled that Walker could recover damages from SEPTA because she was still one of its passengers when she was hit.

"The transit carrier for both the vehicle from which the passenger disembarked and the vehicle to which she was intending to transfer were the same," the court said.

"This case is unique since it involves continued travel on a SEPTA line and a person making a transit connection," the court said. "It must be emphasized that this case involves vehicular transit on a common carrier at both the time preceding and following the accident." The case was Walker v. Pennsylvania Financial, PICS No. 99-1975.