This story has been updated to remove a reference to a study which the authors have retracted.
Dive Brief:
- The Federal Transit Administration issued a general directive Sept. 25 requiring over 700 transit agencies to protect frontline transit workers from potential assaults.
- Against a backdrop of rising assaults on transit workers from 2013 to 2021, the FTA has taken steps to gather information on these incidents and updated its Public Transportation Agency Safety Plans. In 2022, the FTA directed nine transit agencies that see 79% of all assaults on transit workers to document how they are monitoring and reducing such incidents.
- Transit agencies subject to the general directive have until Dec. 26, 2024, to tell the FTA about the risk level in their systems and how they are assessing and mitigating those risks.
Dive Insight:
Assaults on transit workers happen daily across the U.S. in both urban and rural communities, according to the Transport Workers Union of America. On Oct. 8, an attacker stabbed a New York City subway operator multiple times, leaving the 60-year old worker in critical condition. On Sept. 25, a man hijacked a transit bus in Los Angeles, holding the operator and passengers hostage at gunpoint for over an hour and killing one rider before police stopped and boarded the vehicle.
“No American should go to work and worry they will not return home safely,” said FTA Deputy Administrator Veronica Vanterpool in a statement. The FTA general directive requires certain agencies to conduct a risk assessment for transit worker assaults, identify actions to mitigate such risks and provide the FTA with information on how they are addressing the safety risks on their networks. The directive applies to transit agencies on federally supported transit systems.
Leaders of the AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department commended the FTA’s directive and its willingness to work with transportation unions on actions to reduce worker assaults. “The General Directive is an important step in protecting our nation’s transit workers, ensuring that these incidents are thoroughly investigated and comprehensive safety plans are enacted,” Greg Regan, president of the organization, and Shari Semelsberger, secretary-treasurer, said in a joint statement.
