NYC Transit Department of Buses Targets Dispatchers With After-the-Fact Discipline

The NYC Transit Department of Buses has begun issuing disciplinary write-ups to Bus Dispatchers based on reviews of dispatcher service sheets weeks after the dates in question — without even speaking to the dispatcher involved.

This troubling practice raises serious concerns about fairness, transparency, and due process.

Dispatchers work in real time, under constantly changing street conditions. Service decisions are often made to address emergencies, rider safety, traffic disruptions, equipment issues, and directives from supervision. Reviewing paperwork long after the fact — without context and without input from the dispatcher — paints an incomplete and misleading picture of what actually occurred on the street.

Even more concerning is that dispatchers are being disciplined without being asked a single question about the circumstances they faced that day. No discussion. No opportunity to explain. No effort to understand the operational realities that drove their decisions.

This approach is not about improving service or accountability. It is about creating a paper trail after the fact and using it as a disciplinary weapon.

If management truly wanted accuracy and improvement, the proper process would be simple:

• Speak to the dispatcher involved
• Review the conditions that existed at the time
• Consider safety, service, and rider impact
• Address issues promptly — not weeks later

Instead, this sudden wave of retroactive discipline appears to be part of a larger pattern of targeting dispatchers while ignoring the real operational problems facing the bus system.

Dispatchers are on the front lines every day, supporting riders, operators, and supervisors while dealing with staffing shortages, traffic chaos, equipment failures, and unreliable communication systems. They deserve respect, professional treatment, and basic due process — not surprise write-ups based on paperwork reviews done in isolation.

We will continue to stand up for dispatchers by appealing all of these cases and demand fair treatment, common sense management, and accountability that actually improves bus service for the public.

Philip Valenti, President