Major Safety and Security Events

Assaults on transit workers

Assaults on transit operators and other transit workers, reported to the National Transit Database. Every flagged incident since 2014, by agency, by year, by time of day and by who was attacked.

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Reported in 2025
643
assaults NTD flags as against a transit worker
Since 2014
5,050
Injuries, 2025
687
5 serious
Operators attacked
1,371
since 2014, where the role was recorded

Reported assaults by year

Every flagged incident since 2014

The last year on this chart is incomplete: agencies are still filing. Rising counts also reflect rising reporting — FTA has pushed agencies to record these events, so part of any increase is the recording rather than the assaults.

Who was attacked

Where NTD records the role

By hour of day

All flagged assaults since 2014

Where

Reported location of the assault

Where they were reported

The most recent 1,500 flagged assaults that carry a location. Click a point for the detail.

Collision Assault Security Derailment Fire Other Larger circles mark incidents with injuries or deaths.

NTD geocodes roughly nine in ten events. Points are placed where the agency reported the incident, which for a moving vehicle is approximate.

Agencies reporting the most, 2023–2025

A count, not a rate: the largest systems will be near the top because they are the largest.

# Agency Location Assaults reported Injuries Boardings
1 Brooklyn, NY 955 1,057 2.9B
2 Chicago, IL 302 307 309.2M
3 Washington, DC 96 102 262.5M
4 San Francisco, CA 96 100 160.5M
5 Philadelphia, PA 85 86 200.7M
6 Boston, MA 62 65 251.7M
7 Los Angeles, CA 53 55 302.6M
8 Houston, TX 44 44 75.9M
9 New York, NY 37 39 126.6M
10 Newark, NJ 33 33 222.5M
11 Minneapolis, MN 24 26 47.6M
12 Dallas, TX 22 22 54.4M
13 San Diego, CA 18 26 75.7M
14 Seattle, WA 17 18 41.9M
15 Orange, CA 16 16 36.5M
16 Seattle, WA 15 14 88.6M
17 Baltimore, MD 15 15 64.2M
18 Detroit, MI 14 14 13.2M
19 Saint Louis, MO 13 15 20.1M
20 Atlanta, GA 13 17 65.6M
21 Cleveland, OH 12 13 24.9M
22 Oakland, CA 11 11 39.9M
23 Charlotte, NC 10 12 14.9M
24 Portland, OR 10 12 64.7M
25 Oakland, CA 10 12 54.9M

What this counts, and what it does not

  • Only what was reported to NTD. An agency that records assaults diligently will appear worse than one that does not. Differences between agencies here are partly differences in reporting culture.
  • Major events only. This file covers incidents meeting NTD's major event thresholds. The monthly file counts both major and non-major, and its assault totals run higher.
  • Counts, not rates. The table above ranks on raw numbers. A large agency carrying hundreds of millions of rides will report more assaults than a small one without its staff being in more danger per shift.
  • "Transit worker" is NTD's flag, not ours. It covers operators and other staff; the breakdown above shows how it splits where the role was recorded.