Last Monday, California Assembly Transportation Committee Chair Lori Wilson (D-Fairfield) introduced A.B. 394, the first of what she promised would be a package of bills designed to improve public safety for users across the transportation sector. Wilson says the bill aims to make transit systems safer for passengers, drivers, and other transit employees.
“Every Californian deserves to feel safe when using public transportation—whether they are operating a bus, working in a station, or simply riding to their destination,” she said in a statement.
The bill is co-sponsored by the California Transit Association and the California Conference Board of the Amalgamated Transit Union (CalATU - a union that represents many transit operators - the people driving your bus), likely in response to both the continued assaults operators have faced across the state and the extent to which so many transit systems provide refuge for those struggling with homelessness, mental illness, and substance abuse.
"California’s transit workers are on the front lines every day, ensuring millions of riders get to their destinations safely across the state. Too often, our members are subjected to violent assaults and harassment simply for doing their jobs," said Jeff Shaffer, President of ATU Local 1277 and President of CalATU.
Whether the legislation proposed by Wilson would achieve that is not clear. Per Wilson, A.B. 394 would expand existing legal protections offered to riders and transit operators by strengthening penalties for assaults against transit employees or contractors, broadening enforcement against trespassing on transit systems, and empowering courts to issue prohibition orders restricting access to individuals convicted of violent offenses against transit workers.
Transit agencies throughout California are facing increased pressure to improve safety in response to actual safety issues, and a broad mainstream narrative that transit is not safe. Statistically, California transit is very safe, but it's important that address safety concerns - and to keep riders and operators as safe as possible.
And California transit agencies are doing just that.
Sacramento’s SACRT rail system claims to be the “one of the safest transportation systems in the country.” SACRT credits its unarmed transit ambassador program for its success in keeping crime low. Their visible presence is both a reassurance to riders and a deterrent to crime
In the Bay Area, BART just released its 2024 crime statistics and reported a 17% drop compared to the previous year. BART credits the drop on new fare gates, the hiring of new crisis intervention specialists, and greater visibility of police officers.
L.A. Metro transit has been impacted by increased homelessness and drug usage/overdoses. During the Pandemic Era, Metro saw several high-profile violent incidents, including assaults on transit operators. Addressing safety concerns has been a recent top priority for city and Metro leadership
Metro has ramped up various public safety interventions in the past couple years - including increasing police officers at locations with higher crime stats, adding new ambassadors, closing off parts of stations, and adding plexiglass shields protecting bus operators. As transit crime decreased, some Metro officials including L.A. Mayor Karen Bass pointed to these changes, while others, including Inglewood Mayor James Butts, said the results of increased policing would take time to measure. Butts is also a former police chief in Santa Monica.
The decrease in crime at L.A. Metro and BART also coincides with increased transit ridership. Activists and researchers have pointed to a connection between higher ridership and lower crime on transit agencies. Despite the perception that crime is getting worse on L.A. Metro, there was a direct statistical correlation between crime dropping and ridership rising in 2024 (6% increase in ridership, 6% decrease in crime).
Research on the attitudes towards the L.A. transit system done by USC shows that the more one rides transit, the more likely one is to think that riding transit is safe. UCLA Researcher Juan Matute addressed the idea that more riders will make for a safer transit system at last week’s episode of StreetSmart.
“If you haven't been on transit for a while and you're somebody who's more concerned about what you've been hearing," Matute said of riding the system with his family, both at the height of the pandemic and more recently, “I don't find it unsafe.”
Track the status of A.B. 394 via the state's LegiScan website.
