Transit Workers Union Local 234 President Brian Pollitt is demanding accountability from Gov. Josh Shapiro, Mayor Cherelle Parker, and SEPTA officials after a string of violent crimes on and around Philadelphia mass transit over the last few weeks.
In fact, he says he has been calling for National Guard deployment on SEPTA - similar to how New York City has deployed the National Guard on MTA - for four years, according to WKYW.
“I think that governor needs a round of applause because they're going through the very same thing that we're going through,” Pollitt said of New York City.
He says many drivers are seeking retirement because of how dangerous the job has gotten and that it is tough recruiting new drivers. “And I got young people coming in the door and once they come in here and see how things are, they're going out there looking for other opportunities,” he said.
Recall last Thursday we wrote about 8 teens who were shot near a SEPTA bus in Northeast Philadelphia. The incident came just hours after the last shooting injuring four and killing one involving mass transit in Philadelphia.
The incident occurred at around 3 p.m. near Northeast High School at Cottman and Rising Sun avenues, where students were waiting for a bus. Three assailants opened fire, shooting over 30 rounds from across the street, wounding eight teenagers.
Surveillance captured them exiting a blue Hyundai Sonata and attacking as a bus arrived, then fleeing. The victims, aged between 15 and 17, included seven boys and a girl; two are critically injured.
Descriptions of the gunmen have been released. The shooting prompted a lockdown at a nearby elementary school and hit two SEPTA buses without injuring passengers.
Police have impounded a car believed to be involved in the shooting, seizing a blue Hyundai Sonata found parked on Roselyn Street in the Olney area of the city on Wednesday night. The vehicle, now at a local impound lot, is said to match the description of the dark blue 2019 Hyundai Sonata identified as the getaway car in surveillance footage.
Mayor Cherelle Parker commented last week: "The purpose of our being here today is to inform you all that enough is enough. That every law enforcement partner that we have here in the city of Philadelphia is actively engaged in working together to ensure that every resource that is needed is readily available so that the work can be done to solve crimes."
