All NICE bus operators undergo rigorous safety training before they are allowed in the driver's seat. Safety and customer service training remains ongoing throughout their careers at NICE.
Safety on Buses
When riders are injured on one of our vehicles, the injuries normally are a result of stumbling, slipping, or falling. Help us make your ride a safe one.
- If you need a moment to get to an open seat, feel free to ask the operator not to move the vehicle until you are able to sit down.
- Hold on to poles or straps if no seats are available.
- If standing, try to stay behind the line on the floor near the fare box.
- If standing, try to stay behind the line on the floor near the fare box.
- On rainy days passengers track in water, so be particularly careful when moving about on buses.
- Watch your step when boarding and exiting vehicles.
- When exiting at a rear door, pay attention to closing doors, and be aware of the high steps.
- ELECTRIC SCOOTERS AND EBIKES ARE NOT ALLOWED ON BOARD ANY OF OUR VEHICLES.
Courtesy on Buses
An important part of safety is being courteous to others sharing the ride with you.
- Don't talk to or distract the operator when a vehicle is in motion.
- No eating, drinking, or smoking is allowed on vehicles.
- Have your fare counted out and in hand when entering the vehicle in order to help everyone board quickly and safely.
- Enter at the front of the vehicle. Exit by the rear doors.
- The seats behind the driver are designated for disabled passengers, senior citizens, and pregnant women. Please respect your fellow community members who need these seats.
- When disabled passengers are boarding the vehicle with the lift mechanism, please give plenty of space to them and to the driver assisting them.
- Young children should be removed from strollers and placed on a seat or carried on an adult's lap. Strollers need to be folded up and put securely out of the way of other passengers.
- No amplified music is allowed. If you are listening to music with headphones, the music should be quiet enough that other passengers can't hear it. Please refrain from loud cell phone conversations, as well.
- If the bus is crowded, please remove packages from the seat next to you so that others may sit down.
Security on Buses
You'll be safest on NICE when you're aware of what's going on around you. So don't fall asleep on the vehicles, don't play your personal music too loud, and don't become too engrossed in a book or handheld device.
If you see something dangerous or even suspicious on the NICE system, please tell the vehicle operator or call 911. Keep an eye out for unattended bags at NICE stops or on NICE vehicles and for people acting oddly or suspiciously.
NICE does not have to allow drunk or unruly people to ride the system. If someone is acting intoxicated or in an unsafe manner, discretely tell the operator and return to your seat. The vehicle driver is trained to know what to do in such situations. He or she may call a NICE dispatcher, the police, or an ambulance on a case-by-case basis.