Searches underway on buses to Hub
Local and federal officials began the first inspections of Boston-bound bus riders' bags in Londonderry, N.H., yesterday, as bus lines face stepped-up security measures to coincide with the Democratic National Convention in Boston.
Londonderry Police Captain Bill Hart said that the use of a bomb-sniffing dog to inspect bags on five Concord Trailways commuter buses had been planned as a general antiterrorism effort this summer, but that the Department of Homeland Security encouraged the policy to be used during convention week, which starts July 26.
The Vermont Transit bus company also plans random baggage inspections from its terminal in White River Junction, Vt., for Boston-bound buses, and officials at Springfield-based Peter Pan bus lines expect to discuss inspections in a meeting with the Transportation Security Administration scheduled for today.
A spokesman for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority said that the T's 375,000 daily bus riders would be subjected to random bag searches in the coming days and that the searches would intensify during convention week. Teams of officers will be stationed at selected bus stops and stations and randomly stop and inspect riders carrying bags, spokesman Joe Pesaturo said.
Until now, the focus has been on T passengers on subway and commuter rail, particularly following federal advisories of a possible terrorist attack on transit systems and the bombing March 11 of commuter trains in Madrid.
A TSA spokesman in Washington said there was "no blanket directive" calling for baggage inspections on private bus lines coming into Boston, but that bus operators and local police were free to include bag searches as part of general security measures.
Steven Ricciardi -- special agent at US Secret Service office in Boston, which has been coordinating security for the convention -- also said his office had not issued any recommendation that bus passengers' bags be searched.
The inspections of the five Boston-bound commuter buses in Londonderry yesterday morning clearly indicated that bus travel, at least during the period around the convention, will be subject to a new level of scrutiny.
"Our plan is to do this a minimum of 10 times and a maximum of 20 times before the end of summer," Hart said. "We will analyze it and ask, does it work, how much does it intrude on people's lives, and what is the degree of necessity? I anticipate that goes up towards the convention and then declines."
The Concord Trailways buses travel on Interstate 93 past the FleetCenter, where the convention will be held, and into South Station. Three buses searched yesterday originated in Londonderry, and passengers were told to allow police dog to sniff their bags before boarding.
On two other buses that originated in Concord, passengers were ordered off the bus at the Londonderry stop. Their bags were then inspected by the dog, while officers checked the overhead bins.
The buses were delayed by 10 minutes at most, Hart said. No explosives were found.
The searches were conducted by four Londonderry police officers and representatives from the Rockingham County Sheriff and the Department of Homeland Security, Hart said.
"We got approached by Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, and the Londonderry Police Department, and they wanted to start random searches before the buses went into the city," said Ken Hunter, vice president for Concord Trailways. "We said, fine, as long as we don't inconvenience riders timewise."'
Commuters were handed a flier explaining the company's cooperation with the search and saying there was no specific threat that prompted the search.
Chris Andreasson, general manager of Vermont Transit Co., said that "we'll have some extensive searches going on in White River" during convention week, for buses that stop there before heading to Boston. He said he had also discussed baggage inspections with federal authorities.
"The thing we've been asked for DNC week is to make sure every item in the passenger bins has a passenger with it," he said.
Chris Crean, director of safety and security for Peter Pan, said the bus company had not yet been asked to conduct or allow searches, but that a meeting with TSA officials was scheduled for today.
"There are quite a few things being implemented for the DNC, and a lot of that will come out at the meeting," he said.
For the T's 1,035 buses and 174 bus routes in Greater Boston, passengers should expect to be randomly stopped to have bags inspected before boarding, Pesaturo said. Similarly, subway riders will be randomly stopped.
Anthony Flint can be reached at flint@globe.com.
