They fired one their Bus Drivers for refusing a passenger to board without a mask in a county where its mandatory. " No PPE for Drivers, But Co. Requires Masks for Anyone Entering its Corporate Office With over 200 public transit worker deaths across the country from COVID-19, and hundreds more who have fallen ill, there's no question the deadly pandemic has wreaked havoc on front line workers in the bus industry. Yet despite the evidence, some employers are failing to protect workers - with protective draping, PPE, or even rules limiting a driver's ability to enforce passengers to wear masks. Keolis Transit America, a national company which operates the bus system for Foothill Transit in Los Angeles County, not only is putting its drivers in harm's way, but actually fired an immunocompromised driver last week after she refused to allow a mask-less passenger to board her bus. "I'm still under a doctor's care," said Kessel Davis, who just returned to work in May following breast cancer surgery. "I have to be really careful for my health." Kessel, who had worked for the agency for the past three years, said the company told her, "We don't pay you to enforce the rules, just drive the bus." "I don't sleep at night since I was fired," she said. "They're asking us to risk our lives to drive passengers." In a memo sent to drivers last week, Keolis reinforced that message, directing drivers to allow passengers without face masks to board buses, despite state law: "This memorandum is to remind all of our employees that everybody in Los Angeles County must use a face covering when in public or around people from other households. However, the enforcement of this mandate is not the driver's responsibility. Foothill Transit has directed both contractors that 'we will not deny service to customers without a face covering' or not wearing the face covering correctly." The company fired driver Kessel Davis after she called dispatch about the problem passenger who refused to put on his mark before boarding her bus. Kessel said she took the action to protect herself and everyone on her bus. Kessel says that very few of the busses in her yard -- maybe 10 out of the 200 buses -- have partitions separating drivers from the passengers. She did note that while buses have been outfitted with chains to separate drivers from passengers, oftentimes passengers simply bypass the chains. Of the 250 drivers in her yard, she believes that at least four of them and one manager have contracted COVID-19. Incredibly, the company still refuses to provide proper PPE to drivers, leaving them to buy their own masks." Shahid Farwaz Labor 411 Shameful stuff, firing a worker trying to do the right thing for her passengers. read more

Just an update... these morons have now shut the Newburyport line down EVERY WEEKEND ALL SUMMER... I am currently on a train on Monday morning with 3 other people... yesterday there were shuttle buses turning people away in Salem because it was so busy on a Sunday they couldn't fit everyone on... this company is run by some of the stupidest people in transportation Another update a week later, Keolis decided to change the routes of all the shuttles again. When I just called and asked why they did this AGAIN? The response from the representative was hysterical & infuriating. I was told the routes that include my normal stop was an inconvenience to the driver of the shuttle bus! That's funny... a 10 minute inconvenience for the driver is way better to avoid than the inconvenience of the 200k people around Chelsea, Everett (shockingly cities with a high minority population, I never see them skip Beverly, Salem etc.)and surrounding areas... Keolis is terrible and obviously run by people who has never tAken public transportation read more

A terrible contract for the State of Massachusetts and its citizens. Acknowledging that weather, equipment problems, etc., are oft out of the hands of Keolis their ability to effectively devise and execute upon plans when the circumstances are under their control is inefficacious. Horrible management throughout the Keolis operation ; a bad deal for the state that cannot expire soon enough. read more

I give one star because there is no option to give a zero..... What a terrible business.....i am surprised how they are even in business still...! Totally illegal business practices, no respect to client needs whatsoever. But let me start from a beginning.... They are managing commuter rail in Needham.... Fairly recently....( It was a huge mistake hiring this company in my opinion...! ). They moved the trains to stay and idle next to a 24 unit building and across the way from even bigger apartment complex. There is no end to people suffering !!!! The train ads to pollution is only half of the issue. It shakes so much that building gets cracks on a walls and ceilings over time, if you are staying inside apartment... You can feels your guts shaking in your body.... Windows are shaking.... People cannot sleep at night, the ones I talked to tell me stories about going to a doctor and getting pills prescribed from enxiety, depression , sleeping pills.... You name it ! I called and the guy on a phone did not gave me his name and promised to put it in a proper departments....and instead must of put it straight to trash.... because when I called to check on a status couple of weeks later they could not even find that complaint. Then the next guy Alex took my complaint, but no details... Very short....i got a copy of that. Today I called.... Nothing is done... They say they are still investigating.... People are suffering and they did not bother to investigate BEFORE they moved the trains to a poor people residing in this area.... There are elderly people that lived there for 30 years... What are they supposed to do now ? They are being awake with loud noise, cannot fall to sleep until late at night because of loud noise.... And leave with constant shaking of the grounds from idling trains. Hope they will do what they are supposed to do because we will keep fighting until they stop torture people ! read more

Started taking the FRAMINGHAM line this week. Monday great, onetime, etc. Tuesday-late. Not a good average so far.

How do you run an operation so poorly and stay in business? Never count on getting anywhere on time. Recent newspaper report notes my branch, the Fitchburg line, has sunk to about 70 percent on-time reliability. Meaning, if you will, that of every 10 rides (or a week's commute), there's a good chance that three of them will be late or cancelled. Pathetic. read more

The ontime service is below average on the Framingham Worcester line and one white female conductor with straight hair and a sleeve of tattoos routinely bullies customers by screaming at them and shutting off the stairs so they can't board before the train is scheduled to leave. She is just horrible. People avoid her coach because she is so abusive. If there was another option I would gladly take it. Also it's interesting that Keolis chooses not to respond to anything posted on yelp. Clearly customer service is NOT something they care about. read more

Got on a train last Sunday from Boston to Worcester they charged everyone, but after moving 100 feet we were stuck on the tracks for 2 hours. The personnel told us after everyone had missed their events & plans that once we pull into the station to listen to the announcements as he had no info. Upon entering the station they said for people on our train another train would be coming in an hour or two if we wanted that one. At that point if I went to Worcester that late it would been crazy, so I went home. This week I called MBTA transit and they told me to not get my hopes up on a credit for my train pass. WTH?! Awful customer service after an awful day stuck on train tracks. For most businesses no refund policy is illegal... sounds like Keolis thinks this is okay. The woman said I might be contacted this week, but they don't have capacity to give me better service. So weird and not normal. Just give me a refund or a new ticket since I wasn't able to take the train I paid for please. It's not rocket science. read more