FTA Requiring MCTS, Others To Search For Threats To Transit Workers

An MCTS bus became a crime scene after a shooting occurred aboard it. Photo by Graham Kilmer.

The Federal Transit Agency is issuing new rules for transit across the nation regarding safety and security for transit workers.

The federal agency released a general directive Wednesday requiring transit agencies to assess safety risks within the transit system, identify ways to address them and report them back to the FTA within 90 days.

In Milwaukee, the local Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 (ATU) has consistently raised the issue for years, as drivers have been assaulted both on and off the bus while on duty. The union and operators have called for better security, including replacing the private security contractor Allied Universal.

“Over the past decade, we have seen a truly tragic and unacceptable rise in verbal and physical assaults on the men and women who are critical in providing a transportation lifeline to 10s of millions of people,” said FTA Deputy Secretary Polly Trottenberg during a virtual briefing Wednesday with reporters from around the country. Between 2013 and 2021, assaults on transit operators increased more than 100%, Trottenberg said.

“What this general directive does is require transit agencies to assess the risk for potential assault on transit workers, mitigate those risks, monitor the results and report those results to FTA,” said Veronica Vanterpool, FTA Deputy Administrator.

The directive was developed with input from two of the largest transit unions in the country, according to Trottenberg, who thanked Amalgamated Transit Union International President John Costa and Transport Workers Union International President John Samuelson.

The new directive requires transit agencies to conduct a “safety risk assessment” for assaults on transit workers. When agencies report back following the assessment, they must explain whether they found any clear risks to transit worker safety and how they will mitigate them.

However, the directive does not change the operator assault data; it already requires agencies to collect it, and it does not require agencies to undertake any specific mitigation initiatives.

The new directive also does not come attached to new funding for transit agencies. The FTA is encouraging transit agencies to go after FTA grants and formula funding they already have access to for any safety projects.

For the Milwaukee County Transit System, a lack of funding and an ongoing county structural deficit have greatly limited potential solutions to the crisis of transit operator assaults. In 2023, a county board task force focused on transit security worked with the ATU to recommend creating a new transit ranger force to replace the private security contractor. Transportation officials were skeptical that a transit ranger program would produce the safety outcomes the union wanted, and disputed the cost estimates the task force recommendation used.

Other transit agencies told the FTA that additional funding is needed to take on the issue of operator assaults, and others criticized the directive for not offering concrete steps to addressing the issue, according to records attached to the FTA’s notice of the new directive.

Without additional funding, it’s unlikely the transit system will be able to advance any major initiatives. MCTS already has a structural deficit that it is regularly scrambling to backfill in order to keep providing service as is. The transit system recently announced it was stopping development of a second bus rapid transit route, saving approximately $15 million that will be used to plug holes in upcoming budgets.