FTA pushes transit agencies to protect workers from assault

Washington — The Federal Transit Administration is requiring urban transit agencies “to conduct a safety risk assessment; identify safety risk mitigations or strategies; and provide information to FTA on how it is assessing, mitigating and monitoring the safety risk associated with assaults on transit workers.”

An FTA directive published Sept. 25 is aimed at transit agencies subject to the requirements of FTA’s Public Transportation Agency Safety Plans regulation.

The agency cites data from the National Transit Database that shows assaults against transit workers rose 120% from 2013 to 2021.

“Transit workers experienced a significant increase in assaults over the years, which is unacceptable,” FTA Deputy Administrator Veronica Vanterpool said in a press release. “This is just one step as FTA seeks to improve transit worker safety. We will continue to take action to ensure that our nation’s transit workers are safe and secure while running our nation’s trains, buses and transit facilities.”

The Transport Workers Union of America supports the move.

“Transit workers have been subject to a plague of violence and abuse for far too long,” TWU International President John Samuelsen said in a separate release. “This final directive is a historic step forward in terms of making it safer for the blue-collar men and women who move America. Transit workers have the right to go to work, do their jobs and return to their families unscathed. It’s going to require vigilance and strong oversight by the FTA and focus by unions like the TWU to ensure success, but this absolutely is progress.”

FTA published a proposed directive in December and accepted comments through Feb. 20.