Santa Clara VTA Bus Driver Shot and Killed in San José

A Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority bus operator was killed in a shooting Friday night in the parking lot of the Chaboya VTA bus yard in South San José.

“The Santa Clara Sheriff’s Office is investigating what appears to be an isolated incident,” said VTA General Manager Carolyn Gonot at a press event Saturday morning. No arrests or details related to a suspect had been announced as of Saturday morning.

The VTA said it was increasing security at all of its locations over the weekend, and no disruptions to service are expected.

Raj Singh, Amalgamated Transit Union president, said VTA and the union are focused on addressing safety concerns, but declined to elaborate on specifics. Singh said bus drivers are, in general, at a greater risk simply because of their exposure to the public.

“The nature of the job — they open that door, they really don’t know who’s walking on,” Singh said. The Chaboya bus yard is not a location where passengers get on the bus.

The shooting comes three years after a VTA employee shot and killed nine of his coworkers, and then himself, at a VTA rail yard in downtown San José. Mental health services that were established in the wake of that tragedy are still available to VTA employees today, and Singh encouraged workers to utilize those resources.

“The operators especially, they have their senses a little bit heightened, and they’re more concerned for their safety compared to some of the other workers that don’t deal with the public,” Singh said.

There are professional counselors and peer counselors available for workers. The number of counseling sessions available are “essentially unlimited” for workers seeking help related to this incident, Singh said. “There have been a lot of people that have been utilizing the services.”

He added, “Everybody deals with traumatic events in their own way.”