Buses Come To A Standstill To Honor Edwin Thomas
10 days ago the life of a hard working Brooklyn bus driver came to an unfortunate end at the hands of a heartless bastard. The death brought many to tears from fellow bus drivers to his daily riders, & everyone in between. Family, friends, co-workers, & others showed up this past Monday at his funeral. In a second show of solidarity, the MTA instructed every bus in the city to pull over at midday in a moment of silence. Pete Donohue & Oren Yaniv of the New York Daily News have more on the emotional day:
City buses came to a standstill at noon Monday in honor of slain driver Edwin Thomas just as transit officials pledged at his funeral to improve safety.
Hundreds of bus operators, MTA executives, relatives and friends came to remember the popular driver inside a modest Queens church.
“The legacy of Edwin Thomas will be a more secure and safe environment for bus drivers in this city,” president of NYC Transit Howard Roberts said to applause.
The overflowing crowd later lined up outside the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Cambria Heights to salute Thomas’ coffin, which was trailed by a bus draped with bunting.
In another show of solidarity, every bus in the city was instructed to pull over at midday for a moment of silence. There are typically about 5,000 buses on the road at that time.
Thomas, 46, was driving a B46 bus last Monday when fare-beater Horace Moore, 20, allegedly fatally stabbed him when the operator refused to give him a free $2 transfer.
The first murder of a city bus driver since 1981 took place on the route with the most fare evasions.
Click here for the complete report.
I would like to once again offer my condolences to the friends, family, & co-workers of Edwin Thomas who met an unfortunate & unnecessary end ro his life. I applaud the MTA’s decision to have a moment of silence to honor Edwin. I am sure he smiled at that gesture.
xoxo Transit Blogger
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
[…] on a decline in US traffic fatalities from The Bellows, a memorial to a slain NYC bus driver from TransitBlogger, and a follow-up on the California town that tried to ban road bikes from a popular route, from […]