CT Transit workers are keeping up the fight for more frequent bathroom breaks. A group rallied in downtown Hartford Friday morning demanding more stops and access to restrooms.
Members of the local Amalgamated Transit Union said there is often no time or place to find a restroom on their routes. Some drivers said they avoid drinking water before or during their shift. Others said they have even resorted to wearing adult diapers on the job.
“DOT needs to really step up and start building some bathrooms and take ownership of the property and take care of their workers, their employees,” said Ralph Buccitti, Business Agent Financial Secretary for Local 281.
NBC Connecticut Investigates was first to expose the behavior of another CT Transit driver, who was caught on surveillance camera urinating on the side of a busy street next to his bus while he was on duty. Bus drivers said the incident was a prime example of the lack of adequate restroom facilities.
“Our bus drivers, our transit workers are spending all day long taking people where they need to go,” said Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, who attended the rally on Friday. “They deserve the chance to get off the bus and use the restroom when they need to do it.”
CT Transit employees from across Connecticut, union members and local leaders held a similar rally in June to demand better bathroom access after an NBC Connecticut Investigates report found that some drivers do not have access to adequate restroom facilities on all of their bus routes.
In response, the bus company was in the process of creating a "bathroom committee” with management and drivers working together to address the problem.
