A NJ Transit bus from the Meadowlands that was found idling at the Port Authority terminal Thursday for nearly five hours with its driver dead inside has exposed a need for better coordination between the two agencies, transportation officials said Sunday.
Thomas Truex, a bus operator for 26 years, was discovered slumped in a passenger seat at about 3 p.m., hours after he dropped off his last passengers at 10:30 a.m. and was to return the bus to the Meadowlands garage, officials said.
NJ Transit Spokeswoman Penny Bassett Hackett stopped short of faulting the garage supervisors for not alerting authorities when Truex didn’t return that morning, but said, “We’ll certainly take a look at procedures going forward.”
The incident may have shown cracks in the communication channels between New York and New Jersey bus operations, Port Authority Spokesman Steve Coleman said.
“If anything, we probably need to take a look at coordination we have with operation staff in terms of making sure if anything looks out of place or a driver didn’t report back that there are employees who can notify us ASAP so we can check it out,” he said.
Flags were raised when Truex did not report back to duty at 3 p.m. at the Meadowlands garage Thursday, prompting NJ Transit officials to call his wife, who had not seen him, Hackett said. About the same time, Port Authority called to alert NJ Transit of a bus that was “not in a good location,” she said. A NJ Transit supervisor then went to Port Authority and found Truex. His death is not suspicious, though the cause is undetermined.
Five hours! Most people can't take a prolonged bathroom break without their supervisor breathing down their necks and this guy was literally dead on the job for five hours and no one noticed. When I get back to my office from doing my business I can expect to find a search party being organized to look for me.
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