2024 Safety & Security Report

Several high-profile incidents have taken place on transit systems throughout the U.S. this year, thrusting the industry into the spotlight with communities questioning the level of safety transit systems offer to riders and frontline workers. Groups from rider advocacy organizations and unions to elected officials and the federal government have called on agencies and the industry at large to take decisive action.  

Through strategic and targeted efforts, agencies are focusing on boosting frontline worker safety with increased resources, improving rider safety through added code of conduct enforcement and implementing technology solutions to help deter crime from happening.   

This report focuses on national trends in safety and security incidents and what specific actions agencies are taking to address them.  

Addressing frontline worker safety 

Addressing the safety of frontline workers has been a key focus throughout the year. From 2013 to 2021, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) cited a 120 percent increase in the number of assaults against transit workers, as documented by the National Transit Database. In response to this significant increase, the FTA issued a general directive requiring more than 700 transit agencies to take action to protect frontline workers from the risk of assaults. While agencies have into December to provide the required information, many have already been taking steps to mitigate this risk.   

Several mitigation strategies have focused on increasing the presence of security personnel at stations and onboard vehicles. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority even hired its first criminal justice advocate who is responsible for advocating and providing support for crime victims in the system, while also working with law enforcement agencies, prosecutorial agencies and community-based organizations to ensure offender accountability. 

For the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), adding contracted non-armed security officers at the end of line services has helped decrease the amount of people taking shelter at transit facilities. The officers also help with patrolling the system when it’s shut down, deterring unwanted behavior. While installing operator barriers is not new, SEPTA is taking the unique approach of designing a ballistic panel for the newly retrofitted operator cabs. These efforts are paying off, with the authority reporting year-to-date (YTD) a 46.5 percent decrease in robberies and a 22.5 percent decrease in aggravated assault compared to YTD 2023.  

According to SEPTA Transit Police Chief Chuck Lawson, the agency is “getting a lot of good feedback” from frontline workers that safety is improving.  

“We have seen assaults overall decline since installing these cabs,” Chief Lawson said, adding that SEPTA is currently in the design phase for the ballistic panel. “We're going to test it out on a handful of buses to see how that works. It's not being used by any transit company in the United States right now, so to my knowledge, we will be the first to roll that out.” 

At ABQ Ride, frontline workers are also noting a safer environment, which Transit Director Leslie Keener contributes to their own increased presence of security.  

“That's been the general feedback that we've been getting from our staff—is [safety] has been much better with the presence that we've had,” Keener said.  

The agency has seen a significant decrease in the number of incidents taking place on transit buses. In April 2022, ABQ Ride’s Metro Security responded to 251 events compared to 194 in April 2023 and 60 in April 2024. Keener credits this to having officers ride the bus, helping alleviate the burden of drivers monitoring behavior. This initiative expanded to a bus hopping program where officers disembark the bus and onto the platform, expanding their presence throughout the system. This also randomized where security officers would be so riders would not be able to predict their presence.  

"We still do see a lot of issues at various stops,” Keener added, noting that maintenance crews help with locating hotspots for unwanted activity. “We had some locations that we were having issues [with, so] those [security officers] started doing a lot of their morning briefings in that area.” 

Improving rider safety through targeted enforcement 

With agencies increasing security and police presence throughout their systems, they’ve become more deliberate about what’s in their codes of conduct and more targeted in their enforcement.  

TriMet’s safety and security staff are focused on increasing enforcement of behavior and actions that are expressly prohibited by its code of conduct. TransLink has also increased fare enforcement patrols throughout its system to reduce fare evasion, educate riders about fare payments and improve safety. King County Metro Transit, in collaboration with King County Sheriff’s Office, launched Operation Safe Transit, a pilot program focused on targeted work on transit and at transit locations such as bus stops and station platforms. 

SEPTA also increased its enforcement efforts, but first, the agency shifted from an administrative model back to a criminal justice model to better address the increase of quality-of-life issues throughout the system.  

“That afforded a little more responsibility for violating policies on the system and one that we thought would give us a better chance at reducing low level offenses on SEPTA,” Chief Lawson said. “Every category of crime that we enforce for quality of life is up over 100 percent enforcement compared to last year, and so that's what we're focused on right now, really delivering a message that we want people to behave when they're on the system.” 

When asked about people’s reaction to the increased enforcement, Chief Lawson explains customers have given them “fantastic feedback” on how they expect the system to be run. 

“They expect us to produce a product that's safe and they're willing to tolerate, I think, more enforcement from us than they are in larger municipal settings,” Lawson said. 

Experiencing a similar uptick in incidents and reports from the public feeling unsafe, ABQ Ride updated its Rules to Ride to more accurately reflect the current reality of the system. In March 2024, the agency rolled out updates, making sure they were highly visible and emphasizing the importance of the rules. ABQ Ride Deputy Transit Director Bobby Sisneros explains part of the update is educating people on the reason a rule exists, which can help deter feelings of being over policed, especially when it comes to the more minute details.  

“These rules are designed to create a safe environment for our staff and our passengers. When we put in our rules that we can't have a cart to exceed a certain width, height and length, it's because we don't want that cart rolling back and forth in the bus,” Sisneros said.  

With updated rules in hand, ABQ Ride looked to a multi-pronged approach in how it handles enforcement because “not everybody needs a sworn officer,” Keener says. In fact, a good portion of security staff are contracted observe and report non-sworn officers. ABQ Ride’s direct connection to the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) is relatively new. It’s through this safety partnership that targeted enforcement comes to play. While the agency increased non-sworn officers on buses, APD’s Southeast Proactive Response Team conducted a proactive transit safety operation along the Central Avenue corridor. The intent was to address crime concerns at known problem locations along the transit route. 

“At some point, it's now not [only] a rule to ride violation, but it's also illegal activity that's going on that we need to get [APD] sworn officers involved in,” Keener said. “I think it sent a really good message to the community that we were taking this very seriously and that kind of behavior would not be tolerated on the transit network.” 

Leveraging real-time information to mitigate crime 

Increasing security presence is a great tool for addressing unwanted behavior but stationing them throughout the entire system is usually unfeasible. Relying on real-time technology products can fill the gaps, including leveraging camera systems, implementing weapons detection software, offering a rider app and installing advanced faregates.  

Denver Regional Transit District installed live look-in equipment on all its buses, where previously only audio was available. Having access to video gives dispatch and transit police more information on how best to handle a situation. The equipment is also being deployed on the light-rail fleet.  

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) and the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) of Southern Nevada deployed weapons detection software. Both agencies partnered with ZeroEyes, which uses artificial intelligence-based gun detection technology layered onto existing digital security cameras to monitor and alert security officials to firearms. What started as a pilot has become a full program, RTC of Southern Nevada CEO MJ Maynard tells Roads and Bridges Associate Editor Harlee Hewitt in an interview for the Infrastructure Technology Podcast. Maynard credits the software with helping to save lives without overreacting.  

“Our security team got an alert [from ZeroEyes] that there was somebody at our downtown transit terminal with a gun in their hand. It turned out it was a young man with a water pistol that looked very much like a real gun,” Maynard said. “We were able not only to not overreact, but we were able to identify what it was.” 

Maynard notes a significant reason for the program’s success is the agency’s continued investment in its technology infrastructure. Chief Lawson agrees with this sentiment, noting the over 30,000 cameras SEPTA’s system relies on. That’s a lot to monitor so Chief Lawson started a virtual patrol network where civilians patrol the system by camera. This allows them to view multiple stations at a time, providing a broader view of the system and responding to incident reports immediately.  

“All of this is occurring in real time. It has been one of the reasons I think that we are seeing such a reduction in crime on the system, and it's one of the reasons I think that our clearance rate and arrests rates are so hot,” Chief Lawson said. 

Similar to RTC of Southern Nevada, Chief Lawson shares how having real-time access to pictures and videos helps police navigate situations without escalating them. This is because it limits police interactions with people who have no involvement in crime.  

“We're seeing a better perception, a better interaction with the community because we're stopping only those folks that are involved in crime,” Chief Lawson said. 

ABQ Ride is also leveraging its existing camera network to monitor activity at facilities. Keener and Sisneros both have cameras in their offices so that they can monitor activities on platforms. APD’s real-time crime center has access to the camera system and can look into all the buses, stops and stations. However, both agree that launching the See Say customer app has been a big help. 

“The See Say app was a big one for us because we just weren't getting that real-time information,” Keener said. “Anything that comes in through [the app] goes directly to our transit dispatch, so we're able to respond much quicker than we would've been if somebody had called it in through a typical 311 system.” 

Another tool SEPTA is leveraging are advanced faregates that detect common types of fare evasion with sensor-based feedback mechanisms. Notably, the gates provide quick access to reporting and analytics, including peak times, dates and locations. This then informs SEPTA’s deployment strategies to reduce fare evasion. Chief Lawson shares the results have been significant, citing a dramatic decrease in the number of evasions and a dramatic increase in ticket sales at the same station.  

“It's been so successful for us that we are now expanding. We're looking at another 10 stations that our board just approved the process to expand that system,” Chief Lawson said.