CHICO — A cyberattack began to effect many small and medium-size business across the United States beginning Friday, and the attack was felt in Butte County, specifically on its bus system.
Butte County Association of Governments Senior Planner of Transit Operations Jim Peplow said that the attack happened primarily on Friday and Saturday and that a majority of the bus systems are up and running once more. Administrative Assistant Victoria Proctor said in an email the bus system itself was never shut down, but rather the bus’s GPS and ability to see paratransit rides. The cyberattack specifically hit Transdec, the contractor that operates the Butte Regional Transit’s B-Line bus system.
The Butte Regional Transit’s B-Line bus system serves Chico, Paradise, Magalia, Oroville, Palermo, Gridley and Biggs. It also has a paratransit offering for those with Americans with Disabilities Act certification or a “dial-a-ride” service for those 70 years and older. Peplow confirmed that the paratransit services were all up and running as of Saturday,
When BCAG, the overseer of the B-Line bus system, began noticing its systems looking slightly different than normal, it quickly took a proactive approach and temporarily ceased operations of its electronic systems. Instead the bus system began reverting back to a paper trail for its paratransit customers.
Peplow said the organization printed out the reservations it had at the time for customers and handed copies to drivers and dispatchers. He added the hope was that any people hoping for a ride would notice after the 15 minute pickup that something may be wrong and would call to check in.
“So basically we were at the mercy of the computer shutdown since we weren’t able to access our things electronically,” Peplow said Wednesday. “So we did the best we could. A few rides may have been missed, but we covered who we could figure out the rides for based on what was manifested.”
Peplow said for those who called informing them rides had been missed, rides were immediately arranged.
“So it was basically that one day, and what we did at that point was we knew we weren’t going to be able to get the reservations (electronically) so we went to a backup system, pulled up the reservations we had on that, printed them out and were able to go off the paper reservations there,” Peplow said.
Peplow stated Wednesday that a hack to this extent has never happened with the BCAG or B-Line transit system and that security has been tightened, including firewalls and secure servers.
“There’s a major computer thing going on in the world right now and we did a really good job preventing it,” Peplow said. “So I’m not too worried if one or two people are upset about a delayed ride because we diverted a big disaster by our proactive actions here.”
Peplow stated that staff at BCAG were available Friday and Saturday and that no one needed to miss a ride unless they were unable to contact them by phone. Peplow encouraged customers who run into a similar issue where they are not picked up after the 15 minute pickup window to call 342-0221.
One-way fares for paratransit customers are $3.50 or $5.25 for same day requests. A two-ride pass is available for $7 and cards with $25 and $50 value are also available. Passes can be purchased at the Downtown Chico Transit Center, the Butte County Association of Government’s Chico office, Butte County Public Works and the town of Paradise.
Order forms for a two-ride pass, a $25 pass and a $50 pass can be printed and mailed in as well by visiting https://bit.ly/2VhDXv8. A check for payment and a stamped, self-addressed envelope are required for mail-in orders.
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July 08, 2021 at 06:32PM
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Butte County bus system hit by weekend cyberattack - Chico Enterprise-Record
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