Photo by Elvert Barnes.

After a passenger poured a cup of urine on an X2 bus operator last weekend, some Metro workers are calling for safer working conditions this Friday morning, leading to delays on the bus line.

X2 bus drivers and members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689, which represents most WMATA workers, asked supervisors for a police escort while they drive their routes at a press conference on Friday morning at the Minnesota Ave Metro Station.

Now, the transit agency is suggesting alternative routes to the X2 due to what it called in a tweet “an operational problem” leading to delays on the bus line.

Metro is accusing ATU Local 689 of engaging in “an unauthorized and potentially unlawful labor action that is significantly impacting riders on the X2 line.”

The statement says that Metro and the union agree that “no one should be assaulted simply for doing their job. However, we disagree with impacting Metro customers who are simply trying to get to work and school by Metrobus Operators refusing to provide bus service in a disruptive and unlawful job action.”

But according to the ATU Local 689, “X2 operators are not refusing to drive. They are requesting police escort to protect them and riders.” The union adds that there is no strike on their part, but instead Metro management has pulled the buses out of service.

This all comes after Opal Brown, 38, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with simple assault for throwing a cup of her urine on a bus driver last Saturday.

Surveillance video shows Brown peeing into a cup near the back of the bus. Right before she got off the bus at the Minnesota Ave and Benning Road NE stop close to 6:15 p.m., she threw the urine-filled cup around the protective shield and onto the bus operator before fleeing the scene.

She told NBC 4 that she hadn’t peed in the cup with the intention of throwing it at the driver but “I was provoked. I hate Metro.” She said the the driver “said ‘Have a nice day’ all sarcastically. She could have been more courteous,” prompting her to throw the urine-filled cup.

There were 75 recorded assaults on Metro drivers in 2016, down from 87 in 2015, according to The Washington Post.

New Metrobuses come with Plexiglass protective shields for drivers’ protection. The ATU says it isn’t sufficient, because the urine still hit the driver, who went to the hospital for “decontamination” following the incident.

Previously:
Woman Who Threw Urine On Bus Driver Explains Why
Metro Police Looking For Woman Who Poured Cup Of Urine On Bus Driver