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A MOTION relating to public transportation, requesting the executive to engage on a task force on transit safety and security to address public safety on transit and in the communities in which the Metro transit department operates.

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                     WHEREAS, Metro transit department operator Shawn Yim was assaulted and fatally stabbed on December 18, 2024, while on duty, and

                     WHEREAS, according to Metro transit department performance reports on safety and security, the Metro transit department experienced thirty-three reported assaults on transit operators during 2023, with many more unreported, and

                     WHEREAS, a nighttime study conducted by the University of Washington in 2023 on a total of eleven local buses and nineteen light rail train cars on routes across four different transit agencies detected methamphetamine in ninety-eight percent of surface samples and one hundred percent of air samples, and detected fentanyl in forty-six percent of surfaces and twenty-five percent of air samples, and

                     WHEREAS, a survey of transit operators published by the University of Washington in 2024 indicated that eight-three percent of respondents reported observing passengers smoking drugs aboard their vehicles, twenty-seven percent of respondents reported that they had been physically attacked or assaulted by a passenger during the past year, and fifty percent of respondents indicated a likelihood to leave their job within the next year, and

                     WHEREAS, increasing public safety on buses and at bus stops and transit centers is a responsibility that is the primary responsibility of the Metro transit department but requires strong partnership and support from the local jurisdictions in which it operates, and

                     WHEREAS, increasing levels of homelessness, substance use disorder, and behavioral health challenges throughout King County have affected public safety and perceptions of safety on transit and at bus stops and transit centers, and

                     WHEREAS, in a hearing of the King County council's committee of the whole on January 13, 2025, leadership of the Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 587, reiterated their call to convene a task force on transit safety and security, and

                     WHEREAS, such a task force could be instrumental in bringing together communities and transit partners to address issues of community safety and the safety and security of local transit operations;

                     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT MOVED by the Council of King County:

                     A.  The council requests that the executive work with Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 587 and the King County council to establish a task force on transit safety and security with the goal of providing a response to transit safety and security in King County, including the jurisdictions in which the Metro transit department operates.

                     B.  The task force on transit safety and security should include, but not be limited to, representatives from the following:

                       1.  Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 587;

                       2.   Metro transit department front line transit operators;

                       3.  The King County sheriff or designee;

                       4.  The King County executive or designee;

                       5.  The general manager of the Metro transit department or designee;

                       6.  The director of the department of community and human services or designee;

                       7.  Elected representatives, or designees, from local jurisdictions in which the Metro transit department operates;

                       8.  Law enforcement leaders, or designees, of local jurisdictions in which the Metro transit department operates;

                       9.  The Sound Transit chief executive officer or designee;

                       10.  Members of organizations representing transit riders; and

                       11.  Any other committee members deemed necessary.

                     C.  The task force on transit safety and security should develop a work plan that will address issues including, but not limited to, the following:

                       1.  Improvements to operator safety on Metro transit department buses, including a plan to install physical barriers for bus operators on both newly acquired and existing bus fleet;

                       2.  Strategies to hold public transit passengers, as well as others at bus stops and transit centers, accountable for abiding by the requirements for conduct on transit property, as specified in K.C.C. chapter 28.96, as well as local laws and regulations;

                       3.  Interagency coordination and shared responsibilities with the jurisdictions in which the Metro transit department operates;

                       4.  Coordination with Metro transit police, local law enforcement, communities, and transit riders to improve response times with the goal of improving both public safety and the perception of safety onboard public transit and at bus stops and transit centers; and

                       5.  Other issues as identified by task force members.

                     D.  The executive should facilitate a briefing to the committee of the whole by task force members no later than September 30, 2025, to share the recommendations

developed by the task force to address the issues identified in section C. of this motion and to discuss proposals for next steps.