buses

This guy tells WBZ he was only expressing his displeasure at the way the driver was driving.

Transit Police report arresting a Saugus man after he started choking a bus driver for no good reason they could tell and another passenger had to pull him off.

Police say Franco Contino rode a 426 bus from Haymarket in Boston to Saugus without incident last Wednesday afternoon.

But when the bus stopped on Lincoln Avenue to let passengers off, Contino erupted in fury and began cursing out the driver, Transit Police say:

The T this week launches a PSA campaign aimed at getting bus riders to leave bus drivers alone. You wouldn't think people would need to be reminded that spitting at drivers is not OK, but recent evidence suggests there are quite a few people out there who think nothing of punching drivers, spitting at them and trying to pull drivers off buses for beatings.

In addition to the bus ads, loudspeakers across the T system will be carrying a message from Transit Police Chief Paul MacMillan:

Assaulting an MBTA employee is against the law. Think twice before putting your hands on T staff. We will find you, arrest you and prosecute you.

The T adds it is seeking legislation to increase the penalties for people found guilty of attacking T employees.

The Jamaica Plain Gazette reports residents who want to see the Casey Overpass replaced with another overpass instead of surface roads are considering suing to stop the work:

"No one prefers to go that route if there's a reasonable solution,” he told the Gazette this week. "But all our arrows are in our quiver."

At particular issue: The proposed new location of the exit from the Forest Hills busway near Asticou Road.

Transit Police report arresting a Wakefield man on charges he repeatedly punched an MBTA bus driver in the face this morning at Oak Grove after the driver wouldn't let him board because his CharlieCard didn't have enough funds.

Police say the driver, 58, was letting passengers board his Route 131 bus at Oak Grove around 6:50 a.m. when Ryan O'Donnell, 19, stepped into the bus:

O'Donnell tapped his Charlie Card on the fare box which indicated insufficient funds to cover the fare. The bus operator explained this to O'Donnell who became belligerent and demanded to ride for free. The bus operator refused and after withstanding O'Donnell's verbal tirade requested he exit the bus. As O'Donnell was exiting the bus he turned and spat at the bus operator. Subsequent to that a struggle ensued where the victim/T employee was struck with a closed fist multiple times in the face causing injury and severe bleeding from his nose.

O'Donnell is now scheduled for arraignment in Malden District Court on a charge of assault and battery, police say.

Innocent, etc.

Drivers this morning were not prepared for yesterday's shutdown of the overpass on the Cambridge side of the BU Bridge - although they'll now have six months to get used to it.

Kathy reports traffic was tied up in knots on the Boston side. Nikki reports from on board a bus:

Driver of the CT2 is freaking out screaming obscenities at other drivers in this INSANE traffic by BU bridge.

Yesterday afternoon at Dudley station, WCVB reports.

Dennis Murphy was driving his Route 110 bus down Elm Street around 6 a.m. yesterday when he noticed a building on fire.

According to Sean Mills, his supervisor at the Charlestown bus yard:

He immediately called dispatch and secured the bus. He then went over to the house on fire and rang all the doorbells to wake everyone inside up. These people did not know the house was on fire. His actions may have saved their lives.

Mills adds he gave Murphy a commendation, but that Murphy declined to have a picture taken of him accepting it "because he says this is stuff we should just do naturally."

Keith Richard snapped this photo of the bus he'd been on and a taxi in Kendall Square around 5:45 p.m.:

This cab just pulled in front of the CT2 I was riding at Kendall. Bus braked, we all went flying.

Alex Wheeler, also on the bus, reported no injuries, but, naturally, rush-hour traffic quickly backed up as a result.

Transit Police report arresting a Dorchester teen on charges of assault and battery on a public employee and interfering with public transportation because of an incident this afternoon on a 19 bus on Geneva Avenue.

According to police, the driver pulled into a stop outside 51 Geneva Ave. around 1 p.m.

KiDante Roberts, 18, grew agitated when the rear door wouldn't open, police say:

A 15-year-old charged with participating in last weekend's attack on a Route 16 bus driver had bail set today at $1,000, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney's office.

The DA's office reports Dorchester District Court Magistrate Michelle Bulger set several other conditions on the Hyde Park girl, not named because of her age: She has to wear a GPS device, follow a 5 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew and "obey any rules set by her mother."

Transit Police have posted surveillance video showing an irate woman spitting at a bus driver after being ordered off a bus at Ashmont for not paying her fare last Saturday. Police say she was accompanied by two small children - one of whom you can see in her arms as she launches her saliva salvo.

Transit Police report arresting a 15-year-old female from Hyde Park today for the Route 16 attack - no name because of her age. "Transit Police detectives continue to work toward identifying more suspects," a spokesman says, adding she is not the same person who threw her pass at the driver just as 15 to 20 teens were gathering for the attack.

Transit Police report this woman is wanted for spitting at a T bus driver who dared ask her to pay her fare at Ashmont station.

Police say she landed a loogie right on the driver's face as she left the bus around 3:20 p.m. on Saturday.

If you know her, you can contact Transit Police at 617-222-1050 or by texting 873873.

The Herald reports that the first person arrested for the MBTA bus-driver beating was turned in by somebody who overheard him talking about the attack - and that among the evidence against him is a tweet the next night about how his hands hurt.

WBZ reports on the attack early Saturday on a Route 16 bus at Columbia Road and Geneva Avenue. Transit Police report:

The bus operator informed officers after he came to a stop to drop off and pick up a passenger he was unable to continue due to several teen aged males standing in front of his bus preventing him from pulling out. Suddenly and without provocation the suspects set upon the operator punching him in the head, neck and facial area. At one point during the assault they attempted to pull the operator through the window. The suspects fled the area in various directions. The operator suffered multiple abrasions about his face.

Courtney Jackson.Updated Friday morning.

A man shot in the stomach around 9:50 p.m. at the Dudley MBTA station was pronounced dead not long after at Boston Medical Center. WBZ reports the man was shot in the station, then stumbled onto a crowded 28 bus.

Friends are identifying him as Will Jack, also known as Courtney Jackson.

Brian Cooper, 25, and Jamel Bannister, 22, are scheduled for arraignment today in Roxbury District Court on murder and firearms charges, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports. Both were nabbed not long after the shooting by Boston Police officers working a detail nearby. Transit Police say the shooting was not random - the pair targeted Jackson.

Due to inspections that found "structural issues," NECN reports.

Boston Metro reports the state wants federal transportation officials to shut the entire company down until it fixes the problems.

Max Grinnell asks:

Policy wonk moment: which T bus route has the most affluent residents? Anybody know?

A Walpole man is scheduled for arraignment on charges he allegedly beat three women waiting for a bus at Ruggles on Saturday.

According to MBTA Transit Police, Francis Cocuzzo, 40, went up to a woman waiting for a 28 bus around 6 p.m. and shoved her with his forearm:

The 2nd female victim intervened and told Cocuzzo to stop his behavior. Cocuzzo responded by grabbing the 2nd female victim by her jacket, restraining her against the bus and punching her repeatedly about the body. Cocuzzo then ripped a necklace the victim was wearing off her neck and placed it into his pocket. A third female victim attempted to stop Cocuzzo from his violent assault however he kicked her in the thigh area.

Police say that Cocuzzo then spit at responding officers and resisted being handcuffed. He was charged with assault and battery, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (shod foot0 and unarmed robbery. EMTs examined the women at the scene; none required hospitalization.

Innocent, etc.

MBTA and Boston police are investigating whether a woman struck by some sort of pellet around 1:45 p.m. today on Washington Street near Arboretum Road was shot by the same people who shot at an inbound 35 bus in the same area last night.

MBTA Transit Police report the driver of the bus last night "observed two individuals standing in a driveway who appeared to be holding a firearm," as the bus passed Archdale Road on its way to Forest Hills.

Police say two of the buses windows were "intact but completely fractured" after apparently being shot at with "an air powered BB gun."

Boston Police today identified the BU student who died on Brighton Avenue on Monday as Chung-Wei Yang, 21.

Police add:

Preliminary investigation suggests an MBTA bus did come in contact with the victim. There is no indication that the driver or any of the passengers on the bus knew anyone was struck. At this time, no charges have been filed.

The bicycle after the crash. Photo copyright Scott Eisen.

A 21-year-old BU student died after a collision at Brighton and Harvard avenues with an MBTA bus.

Scott Eisen reports the bus seems to have simply driven away. WCVB reports police say the driver of the Route 57 bus did not realize he'd hit someone. BostInno reports the driver was taken off the job as the investigation continued.

Boston Biker has some more info on the bicyclist.

Traffic in the area quickly snarled after police shut Harvard Avenue to allow an investigation.

In June:
Bicyclist struck, killed in collision involving MBTA bus on Huntington Avenue.

No bunching for this 39 bus.

The Globe reports a T worker who found a wallet on a Charlestown bus seat with $900 inside returned it to its owner.