WASHINGTON — The Federal Transit Administration, addressing a 120% increase in assaults against transit workers between 2013 and 2021, has issued a final version of its directive requiring transit agencies to assess and address the risk of such assaults on workers in transit vehicles and at facilities.
The agency’s General Directive 24-1, issued Wednesday, covers more than 700 of the nation’s largest agencies, those subject to the FTA’s Public Transportation Agency Safety Plans. Transit systems covered by those plans receive funds under the FTA Urbanized Area Formula Grants or have rail operations subject to the State Safety Oversight program.
“Over the past decade, we’ve seen a tragic and unacceptable rise in verbal and physical assaults on the men and women who are critical in providing a transportation lifeline for millions of people,” said Polly Trottenberg, deputy transportation secretary, in a press release. “That’s why USDOT and the FTA are directing more than 700 of the largest transit agencies across the nation to put a stop to it – and we are holding them accountable.”
Along with conducting a risk assessment outlined under the Agency Safety Plan, the directive requires agencies to identify methods to address any risks identified by that assessment; must, for agencies serving areas with a population of 200,000 or more, involve the joint labor-management safety committee in developing those mitigation plans; and must provide information to the FTA within 90 days on the risks it has identified, how it will address them, and how it will monitor those risks.
“No American should go to work and worry they will not return home safely,” FTA Deputy Administrator Veronica Vanterpool said. “That is particularly true for the transit workers who were valuable frontline workers in our nation’s time of need. … This is just one step as FTA seeks to improve transit worker safety. We will continue to take action to ensure that our nation’s transit workers are safe and secure while running our nation’s trains, buses, and transit facilities.”
The FTA had released a proposed version of the directive late last year [see “FTA directive seeks to address assaults …,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 20, 2023]. Other recent safety actions included a proposal for the first national standards for workers performaning maintenance on rail transit systems [see “FTA proposes rules for track worker safety,” News Wire, March 22, 2024].
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