FTA Releases Video Message Condemning Assaults on Transit Workers

FTA Administrator Nuria Fernandez will retire, effective Feb. 24.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) on Jan. 12 released a video message from FTA Administrator Nuria Fernandez regarding the impact of assaults on transit workers and the importance of the FTA’s proposed general directive requiring larger transit agencies to assess and address risks to transit workers.

FTA recently published the proposed general directive to gather feedback as part of an effort to address the significant and continuing national safety risk related to assaults on transit workers. According to FTA, the general directive would require each transit agency subject to the Administration’s Public Transportation Agency Safety Plans (PTASP) regulation to “conduct a safety risk assessment, identify safety risk mitigations or strategies, and provide information to FTA on how it is assessing, mitigating, and monitoring the safety risk associated with assaults on transit workers.”

Since 2021, FTA has taken multiple actions to respond to and mitigate transit worker assaults. In addition to those efforts, FTA continues advancing changes in the Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan regulations and authoring important, statutorily required worker safety rulemakings. “The general directive is a critical aspect of our comprehensive approach,” FTA said.

Administrator Fernandez, in her video message (watch below), stressed how seriously FTA regards assaults on the nation’s transit workforce and asks transit agencies, community leaders, transit riders and anyone interested in transit to submit comments on the proposed directive.

The comment period for the proposed general directive will close on Feb. 20, 2024.