Bus operator Patty Hardy recounts assault, urges passengers to ‘see something, say something’

Patty Hardy, a bus operator out of Cabot, told meeting attendees that she was assaulted while on duty and urged passengers to report suspicious behavior. "They call me Patty Hardy and I'm a bus operator out of Cabot," she said, adding, "I've been driving now for about seven years."

Hardy said that although she has many regular, kindhearted passengers, an assault was a traumatic event for her and her family. "But it's always hard when you're assaulted for any reason at all and you don't know why," she said. "It was a difficult thing to go through not only for myself but for my family."

She described the heightened vigilance required of drivers after such incidents, saying they must watch mirrors constantly to monitor passenger behavior. "There's passengers out there, there's people out there that are really kindhearted ... but you're constantly watching your mirror," Hardy said, adding that drivers worry about the safety of their riders as well as their own.

Hardy emphasized the uncertainty that operators face: "because you don't know what they're going to do, say, react." She closed with an appeal to the public: "If you see something, say something."

Hardy made these remarks during the public comment portion of the meeting. The transcript provides no record of a formal response or action taken during the session.