MBTA board orders that buses won't transport police to protests, protesters to police

[brooklynite]

Source: WHDH News

BOSTON (WHDH) - An advisory board overseeing the T has agreed on an order not to allow buses to transport police to protests or protesters to police, officials said Thursday.

Members of the MBTA Fiscal and Management Control board unanimously agreed to prohibit the use of buses by cops to crack down on protests, officials said. The vote also prohibits the use of buses to take demonstrators into custody.

“Our concern is that there is a political fight going on in our country to eliminate racist practices, and we are not going to have the T used in any way, shape or form to inhibit people from expressing themselves,” board member Brian Lang told 7NEWS.

Several protests have taken place throughout the Greater Boston Area in response to the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Read more: https://whdh.com/news/mbta-board-orders-that-buses-wont-transport-police-to-protests-protesters-to-police/

[Squinch]

1. Cops don't generally take public transportation on the job, so this is aimed only at protesters.

Are those paddy-wagon buses public? (I'm Irish. I can say that.) I don't think they are.

[brooklynite]

2. Not what it means

They're not commuting to work. They're being moved in groups to staging areas.

[Squinch]

3. That's why I said "on the job." Cops are not moved to staging areas on public transportation.

And people aren't arrested and carried away on public transportation.

The only people using public transportation that now will not be able to are protesters going to protests.

[brooklynite]

4. Perhaps in Boston the BPD contracts for buses to move people.

Transportation Agency Board's don't usually make meaningless symbolic resolutions.

[Squinch]

5. Really? They're covering their ass because they won't move protesters anymore.

Looks like it's working.

[brooklynite]

7. Do you WANT MBTA buses to be used to transport arestees?

That's what this refers to.

[obamanut2012]

10. That is literally the opposite of what they are saying

They will no longer allow their buses to be used as "black mariahs/paddy wagons" to transport arrestees, nor will they any longer transport cops to protests.

This is a literal fact, they have an arrangement and will refuse to do it any longer.

Why are you arguing so much about this? THIS IS A WIN THIS IS A GOOD THING!

[obamanut2012]

9. Yes, they are, in many, many places

[C_U_L8R]

8. The BPD have been showing up to protests in fleets of public buses

The MBTA is simply stopping that practice. I gather they had some kind of working arrangement.