Dive Brief:
- Transit agency leaders and police chiefs emphasized the importance of federal funding to assist local crime-prevention and safety efforts during a meeting with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and other federal officials in Washington, D.C., to discuss safety and security issues on the nation’s public transit systems.
- Transit leaders cited issues including fare evasion, disruptive riders, cybersecurity and terrorism in a press conference following the Sept. 15 meeting.
- While some cities are safer than others, Federal Transit Administration data shows that major passenger security events occur at a rate of less than one per million bus trips.
Dive Insight:
Crime on public transit systems in several large cities rose during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2024, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul ordered 750 members of the National Guard and 250 state and transit police to conduct random bag inspections at subway stations in New York City. Since then, crime has decreased on New York City subways and the Philadelphia, D.C. and Los Angeles transit systems.
“When people feel safe, they are more likely to ride, and when employees feel supported, they are better able to serve the public,” American Public Transportation Association Chair Leanne Redden said during the press conference. APTA’s Safe, Effective, and Clean Transit Task Force shares “successful programs and new approaches that agencies can learn from and look to implement in their own communities,” she said.
“Transit success depends on an unwavering commitment to public safety, both statistically and in how safe riders feel about our systems,” Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority CEO Stephanie Wiggins said. The agency is creating an in-house public safety department, she said. LA hosted World Cup matches this summer and will host the 2028 Olympic Games.
“We are dealing with international and national actors who are posing security threats, so it's time to revisit the shrinkage of federal support for security and mass transit,” New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority CEO Janno Lieber said.
Along the same lines, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority General Manager and CEO Randy Clarke said that “terrorism is still a real concern for many of us,” and that cybersecurity is “an ongoing challenge for critical infrastructure in America.”
Clarke thanked the transportation secretary, the FTA and White House officials for partnering with the transit industry on safety and security issues but expressed concern about the status of federal transportation funding. The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act expires Wednesday, and a stopgap measure through Dec. 11 could cut public transit investment by 20% and passenger rail funding by over 80% from current levels, according to APTA.
“That extension would actually cause hundreds of millions of dollars of loss in maintenance funding for all of these agencies, and that would take away from all the safe, secure, and reliable service that these individuals and agencies are delivering across the country,” Clarke said.
