John Costa, International President of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), the largest union representing public transit workers in the U.S., issued the following statement to praise Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and the Trump Administration for working to make public transportation safer for both passengers and transit workers.
"Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy's letter to NY MTA to ‘clean up the subway’ was right on target and long overdue. He's right. People do deserve the right to convenient, affordable, and safe public transportation, whether they are riding the subway in New York City or a bus in West Palm Beach, FL. And we really appreciate the DOT's request for information on worker assaults.
"If our customers do not feel safe, they are not going to ride. That is common sense. And for bus drivers, the FTA's own numbers show that there has been a staggering 232 percent increase in assaults on transit workers in recent years. They get punched, slapped, spit on, stabbed, and shot on a regular basis. Two of our members were murdered on the job in recent months.
“On behalf of the more than 7,000 ATU members working at NYC Transit in Queens, Staten Island, and Brooklyn and more than 20,000 members living in the NYC metropolitan area, I want to thank President Trump for calling out our employer and demanding better safety and security for everyone.
"While we do not support withholding federal funding, it is clear that much more needs to be done to protect transit riders and workers.
"The Secretary's call for fare enforcement is spot on. Fifty percent of our riders on the bus in NYC don't pay, costing the agency millions of dollars. We need more transit ambassadors on the trains and buses to enforce fares and keep the peace. And yes, it's time for fully enclosed bus operator workstations to protect workers from vicious attacks which of course also put the general public at risk."