But this isn't the 1920's anymore. Transit agencies pretty much everywhere in this country
are public authorities, not privately owned. Yes, there are certain conditions of being in the space -- e.g. paying your fare, no boomboxes -- but those do not negate basic Constitutional protections.
In addition, the "TSA not being law enforcement" line is moot, because every time I have seen TSOs outside the airport -- Boston and NY subways, Amtrak stations -- they have been accompanied by local LEOs that have jurisdiction in the relevant space.
I'd be very curious to know
where these bag searches on Houston's buses were taking place. One of the main points that contributed to the ruling of their legality on the NY subways was that riders could decline the search and walk away. (Never mind that numerous stations have three or more entrances.) If TSOs and local police were roaming buses and searching the bags of passengers
already on the bus, the option to walk away does not apply, and I'd love to see a court challenge.
Of course, the even larger issue is, what is the threat these searches are mitigating? Of the billions upon billions of public bus rides that have been taken in the past decade worldwide, how many have ended in a bombing?
Meanwhile Houston remains one of the worst cities for being a pedestrian --
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-tr...-t-1639961.php
So where's the true threat here to non-drivers?