“Our heroic bus operators have been hard at work keeping this city moving throughout the pandemic and any attack on them is an attack on all of us. Traveling on the bus is and continues to be safe and we welcome increased NYPD presence and focus to keep it that way as New Yorkers return to our system," MTA spokesperson Shams Tarek said in a statement to News 4 New York. Local 100 union members are expected to hand out leaflets to riders, encouraging them to contact the mayor and make bus operators’ safety a priority. “You never see a police officer on a bus, and that needs to change,” Local 100 Vice President and Chief of Staff Richie Davis said. “There’s no one to help us out with the mentally ill and violent criminals.”