Shooting shows security vulnerabilities

Would-be plotters bent on staging an attack aboard a passenger plane know they first have to pass through a gauntlet of security measures at an airport, from body scans and spot interrogations to patdowns and even close scrutiny of their shoes.

But a shooting that killed a person and wounded five this week on a Greyhound bus in California illustrates a stark reality about security on buses and trains: Anyone determined to carry out an attack on ground transportation faces few, if any, security checks.

The comparative scant security prompted at least one survivor of Monday’s shooting on the bus heading from Los Angeles to San Francisco to rethink his future mode of travel.

“I think I will just fly from now on,” Mark Grabban said.

He was on the bus with his girlfriend when a passenger who had been muttering and cursing opened fire.

Grabban’s perception was that Greyhound worried more about stopping passengers from smoking and talking too loudly than ensuring that no one got aboard with a gun.

“It’s astounding and shameful,” the 30-year-old said.

Greyhound said that while it does not use metal detectors at all its locations, its safety practices are similar to other bus companies. Drivers and terminal employees also are trained on security procedures.

“An incident of this nature is extremely rare within the bus transportation industry,” its statement said Tuesday. “Although uncommon, it does not change the seriousness of what occurred. We are continuing to work closely with local authorities as they complete their investigation.”

In the four years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, some U.S. lawmakers complained that way too little federal money was spent on ground transit security compared with what was spent on airports.

Then-U.S. Rep. David Obey, a Wisconsin Democrat, estimated that $22 billion had gone into airline security in those years, while less than $550 million went to security for buses, trains, subways and ferries combined.

There’s no indication spending gaps have closed. That’s true even though vastly more people get on a bus, train or subway than on planes each day. More than 30 million Americans use ground transit daily, compared with around 2 million who fly.

Violent incidents on buses are extremely rare. But concerns have arisen that, with airports more secure than ever, would-be terrorists in particular could see buses and other ground transit as easier targets.

The Transportation Security Administration was established in 2001 to fix security holes that allowed for the 9/11 attacks, with a mandate to check 100% of baggage through airports.

That level of security would be impossible on the country’s sprawling bus and rail lines.

More than 70,000 buses operate on 230,000 miles of roadways, the American Public Transportation Association said. Even if money could be found to pay for metal detectors at bus stations, it would be impossible to have them at every stop along a route, security experts say.

The suspect in the California shooting boarded at the East Seventh Street bus station in Los Angeles, according to California Highway Patrol Sgt. Brian Pennings. At the station Tuesday, there were several security guards but no signs of baggage or any other kind of security checks.

“No metal detector, no wand, nothing,” Grabban recalled about the preboarding process Monday. Greyhound has a no-gun policy, but Grabban said “a policy isn’t enough to stop someone from boarding the bus with a gun and shooting people, as I’ve found out.”