Metro warned of possible delays on several bus lines Friday as operators threatened to miss work in a protest.
Metro issued a statement Friday morning, responding to the planned work sickout.
“We appeal to our operators to reconsider the impact their plan to call in sick will have on some of the most vulnerable people in the county,” Metro said in the statement.
Metro said riders may see delays on several bus lines due to staff shortages.
Bus drivers have been targeted in several recent attacks on the job, but details about the planned sickout were not immediately available.
A Hawthorne man who allegedly stabbed a Metro bus operator in the chest in the unincorporated Willowbrook area pleaded not guilty on April 29 to an attempted murder charge. The case includes allegations that he used a knife during the crime and personally inflicted great bodily injury during the April 13 attack, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Following the stabbing death of a woman on the Metro B (Red) Line and a series of violent attacks on public transit operators, Metro officials expedited efforts to acquire and install protective barriers for drivers on thousands of buses.
Metro’s Board of Directors on April 29 approved an emergency procurement declaration to speed up acquisition and installation of barriers for about 2,000 buses due to the “sudden, unexpected increased severity of assaults on operators.” Officials said that given delays in receiving the tempered glass over the past few months, staff recommended the emergency declaration to bypass normal procurement procedures and expedite the installation of the barriers.