On some bus routes, T posts watchful guard

Lines plagued by violence now getting a police escort

They are the most public of venues, traveling city streets with large windows and crowds of students, construction workers, and mothers pushing strollers. And yet the MBTA buses that rattle along some of the city's most dangerous corridors have not been public enough to deter crimes as violent as they are brazen.

To help stem a rising fear among residents in Dorchester, Roxbury, and Mattapan, the MBTA has begun formally escorting buses through crime-plagued neighborhoods, has placed more transit officers on its most notorious line, and has increased the number of security cameras monitoring passengers.

As he escorted the Route 23 bus along Washington Street on a recent afternoon, Officer Sean Payne glanced at a video feed in his cruiser. A woman sipped her coffee. Passengers in puffy jackets took their seats. A couple snuggled in the back row. Payne watched and waited. "You just want to be there when it happens," he said.

There are enough reminders of what has happened when police weren't there fast enough: the 16-year-old stabbed to death on Route 28 last week; the two young women slashed on Route 23 in October.

The primary focus of the MBTA's effort has been Route 23, a line long associated with high-profile crimes and the source of a barrage of community complaints. Transit police have assigned up to three cruisers a day to follow the roughly 16 buses that travel the route daily, monitoring live feeds from surveillance cameras. The agency has also assigned four officers to ride the route during peak afternoon hours, when high school students head home.

The T has opted to put officers in the cruisers rather than increase the number of officers on board the bus because it gives police more flexibility to peel away from buses that are not crowded and focus on those with more potential for violence.

Recently, officials began adding more cameras and escorts to Route 28, on which the teenager was stabbed New Year's Eve.

Each crime stokes passengers' fears, triggering calls for more vigilance, especially when teenagers begin boarding already crowded buses.

"Anything can happen on these buses with all these factors in place," said Cynthia Loesch, president of the Codman Square Neighborhood Council, who plans to hold a community meeting tonight to discuss the Route 23 bus with MBTA police and officials. "People are just really nervous and unsure and it's unfair."

The T launched its effort on the bus route, which travels between Dorchester's Ashmont station and Roxbury's Ruggles, in the face of community complaints so fierce that police said they had to take action or risk losing the confidence of their passengers.

"This bus goes right through the heart of the Dorchester community," said Lieutenant William Fleming of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. "We promised the people we'll make it safe and we're going to make it safe."

Ralph Ortiz, youth coordinator at the Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corp., said he has not seen the escorts yet, but agrees with the tactic.

"We shouldn't have to be doing that," Ortiz said. "But until it stops, then people need to feel safe. I think the MBTA needs to do whatever it can to make people safe."

During a recent afternoon, Fleming and Officer Conary Beckford boarded the bus at Washington Street and Columbia Road in Dorchester, close to where 18-year-old Dwayne Graham was killed in 2007 on a Route 23 bus.

On this day, the bus was teeming with people, mostly teenagers. Near the front, a petite young woman mentioned the New Year's Eve stabbing. She said she was a friend of the victim.

"I don't want to talk about it," she said, as she began to leave the bus.

Fleming approached her.

"I'm sorry for you," he said. "I feel sorry for his mother."

She looked at him briefly, then stepped off the bus.

Sixteen-year-old Gail Toney said she understands the frustration.

"You can go in the morning, in the afternoon, and at night and it's still not safe," she said from the front of the bus.

But having Fleming and Beckford aboard makes a difference, she said.

"It makes you feel that if something is going to happen, then they're going to protect you," Toney said

MBTA Deputy Chief Joseph O'Connor said the efforts have more to do with changing the public's perception of the Route 23 bus than responding to crimes onboard, which he said are infrequent given the nearly 13,000 people who ride the route on an average weekday. Last year, seven major crimes were reported, including the assaults on the two women, two robberies, and four larcenies.

Although Payne has yet to find anyone armed on the bus, he has broken up enough fights to know that crime usually happens when he least expects it. And the long hours of sometimes tedious surveillance are worth it, he said, if it can prevent a crime.

"You drink a lot of coffee on this job," he said. "A lot of waiting for a lot of action, all at once."

Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com.