SEATTLE — For two months now, King County Metro bus drivers have demanded safety changes after a bus driver was brutally murdered on his route. And just yesterday, a shooting on a metro bus once again put bus safety in the spotlight.
This morning, union leaders and community members gathered at a Seattle City Council committee meeting to advocate for increased transit safety.
Janice Stamm, who lives at a senior living complex in Ballard, said that while many seniors still rely on the buses that run through Seattle, there’s more trepidation when riding the bus now.
“I’m a lot more leery than I was say a year ago,” Stamm admitted.
Drivers have admitted they don’t feel safe, and riders have echoed that sentiment. Even some city councilmembers, including the Chair of the Seattle City Council Transportation Committee Rob Saka (District 1), said today that he often doesn’t feel safe.
“I have been adamant that we need to do more to make drivers and riders feel safe. As a regular transit rider myself I have seen unsafe... I’ve personally witnessed unsafe and unlawful behavior while riding our region’s transit system, including witnessing people freely and openly smoking fentanyl, and brazen stripping of copper wire which is probably stolen,” said Saka.
Greg Woodfill, one of the leaders of the Amalgamated Transit Union local chapter, spoke out during the council meeting, “We need to end the finger-pointing, and start working together. We need every city to take some responsibility for their citizen’s right to use — safely use — public transit!”
Bus drivers have identified a few specific actions they believe would make both them and the ridership safer, such as better barriers separating them from riders and an updated, enforced code of conduct for riders. In the council meeting this morning, they said that when drivers call for help, help needs to come within minutes — not after 15 minutes. They also want fare enforcement and security measures at bus stops, such as more lighting.
Ken Price is also a leader within King County Metro’s bus drivers’ union and emphasized that safety has degraded not just in the past year, but for decades.
“I rode the buses in 1971, right to school, it was scary then... it is a lot scarier now,” he said.
Ryan Davis, another senior living in Ballard, echoed the sentiments of her fellow residents. When asked if she felt safe riding the bus right now, she responded, “Not really, not when I hear the news, frankly.”
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