Violent attacks against bus drivers soar, forcing Biden admin to take action

The Federal Transit Administration will tackle a surprising and alarming spike in attacks on bus drivers and other transit employees that has arisen over the past few weeks. 

"Everyone deserves a safe workplace, including and especially the front line transit workers who keep our nation moving," U.S. Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg said of the new initiative. 

"Assaults on transit workers are unacceptable, and I look forward to working with leaders across the transit industry on ways to further enhance the safety of these essential workers," Buttigieg stressed. 

The FTA found that the rate of attacks had already increased by 121% between 2008 and 2021, setting the stage for even worse incidents since the coronavirus pandemic due to the stress and pent-up frustration of lockdown policies. 

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An NBC Bay Area report found that the Bay Area may even outpace New York and Chicago for the rate of incidents in 2023. Such incidents include a machete-wielding passenger who kidnapped a bus driver in South Bay and forced him to drive for 10 minutes before law enforcement intervened. 

Pete Buttigieg, U.S. transportation secretary, speaks during a news conference near the site of the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, on Thursday, February 23, 2023.  (Photographer: Matthew Hatcher/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The San Francisco Municipal Railway, which operates rail and bus transit systems, counted 116 incidents in 2022 and 95 incidents in 2023 through October. The agency argued that it would indicate a decrease in attacks from last year. 

A SamTrans spokesperson said that it remained unclear "whether these types of incidents have any correlation to pandemic-related societal changes…but we take each incident very seriously. It’s a complex situation with the contributing factors possibly being as varied as the incidents themselves."

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SamTrans operates public transit in San Meteo and part of the San Francisco Bay Area. 

Yong Tao of Foster City boards a SamTrans’ Foster City Commuter Express bus on Wednesday, August, 28, 2019 in Foster City, California.  (Lea Suzuki/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

To combat the rise in attacks, the FTA has proposed the "General Directive," which would require transit agencies to submit to safety risk assessment related to assaults on transit workers. Agencies would have to identify safety risk mitigations or strategies aimed at improving transit worker safety based on the assessment. 

Agencies servicing major cities would need to establish safety committees to oversee each of these processes. All of this would need to occur within 60 days from the finalization of the General Directive, according to the FTA. 

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"Each day, transit workers nationwide are responsible for moving millions of Americans to their jobs, schools, and other daily activities, and we must ensure that their safety remains a top priority," FTA Administrator Nuria Fernandez said of the high level of attacks. 

MTA New York City Transit President Richard Davey and NYPD Inspector Steven Hill at the 49th Street Station on the N/R/W lines on Wednesday, November 8, 2023, where an incident involving a "vigilante" occurred on the uptown platform Tuesday, November 7, 2023.  (Marc A. Hermann / MTA)

"This proposed General Directive is part of FTA’s ongoing comprehensive efforts to improve transit worker safety," she added.  

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Some proposed measures include expanded reporting of assaults on transit workers for the National Transit Database, enhanced training for assault awareness and further initiatives to improve crime prevention on transit lines. 

The FTA will remain open for public comments about the proposed General Directive until February 20, 2024. 

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