The new King County Transit Safety Task Force briefed county council members this week for the first time since it was established.
The task force is charged with making recommendations to improve conditions for transit drivers and riders. It was set up in response to the death of bus driver Shawn Yim, who was stabbed while on the job last December.
Operator safety barriers — big plastic shields that separate drivers from passengers — are now installed on most buses, with more on the way. And that’s just the beginning.
Since March, the task force has gathered public input, with hundreds of constituents and stakeholders sharing insights.
Two facilitators with the task force outlined six overarching initiatives for the council. These include quicker and clearer responses in emergencies and better coordination between agencies. The task force also reported the need for a better system for riders to report complaints and incidents, such as with a new app.
King County Metro’s general manager, Michelle Allison, said a big part of the conversation is about how to ensure safety across multiple jurisdictions.
This means communicating and enforcing a county-wide code of conduct “so that the rider's expectations and the consequences are the same regardless of what transit agency you are on,” she said.
Allison said the proposed budget for the King County Metro includes requests for additional funding to continue and expand programs for behavioral health workers and transit ambassadors — and to make the recent increases to transit security and police presence permanent.
The full costs of the budget proposals are not yet clear. But implementing the safety plans won’t be cheap: The council added $26 million in a supplemental budget earlier this year just to fund the additional police officers and new driver safety partitions for all buses.
The Seattle Times reported that a Metro spokesperson put the costs of security and safety proposals at $116 million over two years, not including a potential rider reporting app.
Greg Woodfill, the president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 587, said the drivers are encouraged by what they have seen so far.
“We've seen our political and transit leaders publicly acknowledge the problems and commit to finding solutions in a way that we've never seen before,” he said. “Quite honestly, we've often felt alone and helpless in the struggle up until now.”
