MARTA to investigate two bus drivers driving while distracted; agency to talk safety with workers

"We're trying to raise the safety culture," Ferrell said Friday.

Ferrell said the meetings have nothing to do with two recent incidents -- MARTA officials have a photo of a bus operator eating, using a fork and holding a bowl in his lap, as well as a video of another bus operator reading a magazine while stopped at a red light.

But he did note that those are two of three "distracted driving" cases that have happened in the last four months. In June, an operator of a MARTA train was suspended without pay for three days after a rider said he was texting on the job.

It's happened in other cities as well. Within the last year, a train in California and a Boston trolley whose operators were texting crashed. In California, 25 people were killed, and in Boston nearly 200 were injured.

"This kind of conduct is not something that we approve of, condone, tolerate, and it's not something we do," Ferrell said.

The two MARTA bus drivers are on paid administrative leave while officials investigate, Ferrell said. The photo and video were taken with a cell phone. One of the photos is "kind of fuzzy," Ferrell said.

"We've been trying to look at the circumstances," he said. "We'll take action based on that."

MARTA Union representative Benita West could not be reached for comment early Friday.

Cash-strapped MARTA recently raised fares and has also cut back on service. Ferrell said that there's nothing the agency has done that would force a driver to not take a break and have to eat while behind the wheel or operating a train.

"And it certainly wouldn't force somebody to read a magazine or text or anything like that," he said.

"I started my transit career as a bus operator 29 years ago, and I certainly understand what bus operators go through," he said. "But it's just not something we tolerate."