Balducci vows action after hearing from transit reps on key safety issues, solutions

January 13, 2025

In the wake of Metro bus driver Shawn Yim’s death last month, transit operators, representatives and others testified in a special King County Council meeting Monday, sharing many concerns about safety for both operators and passengers and suggesting several options to quickly improve safety.

During the special meeting of the Committee of the Whole, organized by Councilmember Claudia Balducci, several themes emerged around transit safety:

• Transit safety and security needs improvement for our employees and riders to be and feel on transit;
• Transit safety is a symptom of broader safety issues in the public at large and requires a full government response;
• While King County Metro Transit Police is approaching full staffing at currently budgeted levels, it remains one of the smallest agencies in the nation for a transit agency of Metro’s size;
• Riders and operators don’t feel like there are consequences for illegal behavior on transit, to the point that operators often don’t report incidents;
• Operators don’t feel like they have authority to handle unsafe situations on buses, and don’t feel that safety is supported at the level needed.

Possible solutions offered include:

• Conducting emphasis, or “surge,” enforcement patrols to increase security presence and decrease incidents of dangerous and illegal behavior;
• Increasing the number of transit police;
• Adding fully enclosed driver compartments to buses, like on trains and airplanes;
• Improving systems to support drivers when they are assaulted or attacked;
• Improve data reporting and collection, including demonstrating results through the usage of data in order to encourage more people to report incidents;
• Adopting financial policies that ensure that operational costs for new service include the costs of transit security;
• Participating in a regional transit safety task force proposed by Amalgamated Transit Union to help coordinate efforts between transit agencies and operators, cities, the county, transit agencies, law enforcement, and the community.

Balducci shared the following statement after the meeting concluded:

“At today's meeting, we heard a lot of important testimony from our transit operators and representatives, along with some important solutions. As a Council, I am glad we listened, and now we need to take action to ensure not only that our transit operators and passengers are safe on and around transit, but also that they know that when there is an issue aboard a bus or in a bus shelter area, someone will respond quickly to that incident.

“We need our transit system to work not only for its service to move people around the region, but also to meet our goals in combatting climate change, improving equity and opportunity, providing mobility, and maintaining our robust economy.

“Today was a great reminder that when we come together, we can make a difference, and now it’s up to us to turn today’s moving testimony into action that sends a message that we are all working together to ensure safety on our transit system.

“I look forward to supporting ATU’s call for a regional task force that will extend its reach beyond King County’s borders to ensure our operators and riders are safe wherever they go.”