Metro presents 2023–24 safety data, says reported drug incidents fell and outlines 2025 strategies

King County Metro officials on April 15 told the Transportation, Economy and Environment Committee that reported safety and security incident rates have come down from pandemic-era peaks and that Metro plans to use data, regional partnerships and targeted staffing to reduce incidents further in 2025.

The briefing, requested by a proviso in the 2025 county budget, covered incident counts and rates for 2023 and 2024, Metro’s current performance targets and planned strategies for 2025. Metro staff presented incident counts and rates per million boardings for categories including transit worker assaults, passenger disturbances, reported drug use, harassment and “sleeper/non‑destination” riders.

Metro said reported transit worker assaults — defined to include physical assaults and spitting against any Metro employee — totaled 79 incidents in 2023 and 85 incidents in 2024, averaging less than one assault per million boardings. Metro Director of Safety and Security Rebecca Frankhauser told the committee, “This is an aspirational goal, but no assault is okay on our system.”

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