Statistically speaking, transit riders are less likely to experience crime or get into traffic accidents compared to drivers, but anxiety about crime on transit still persists. Perception matters, and the concerns of riders should not be dismissed and must be addressed through proven practices.
Transit is safer than driving a car
There is a misconception that riding transit is dangerous to users, and to an extent, the worry is understandable. Commuting in an enclosed space with strangers is far less familiar than the cocoon of your own private vehicle. For anyone who doesn’t ever or even regularly ride transit, riding the bus or taking the metro can be a bit nerve-racking, and media coverage that over-saturates negative stories on transit only makes it worse.
Despite all this, public transportation is statistically safer to use both in terms of being in a traffic accident and experiencing crime. Only a small amount of serious crime occurs on transit properties, and motorists are actually more likely to be killed by gun violence crimes. These fatalities that motorists face are usually in the form of road rage and aggressive driving, which about eight in ten drivers reported to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.
In addition to public transportation being at low risk for crime, it is even safer in terms of accidents. Riding transit has about 1/10th the rate of traffic injury or death as car travel (for either death or injury). Over the last 10 years, the passenger vehicle death rate per 100,000,000 passenger miles was over 60 times higher than for buses, and 20 times higher than for passenger trains. Even the comparison between the rate of transit homicides are incredibly insignificant compared to the rate of traffic crash deaths.
Why does anxiety around transit exist?
Despite all the reports, studies, and crime statistics overwhelmingly finding that transit is both secure and safe, riders are still concerned about safety. Those concerns resurface when shocking news stories of attacks on transit hit the news cycle, such as the woman who was fatally stabbed on a light rail system in Charlotte, NC. It is imperative to address those anxieties amongst riders because fear discourages individuals from utilizing transit, even if it’s just a perception. But why is this the case?
One component is media story comparisons between attacks that happen on transit versus car crashes. Major news outlets will spotlight sensational stories (like getting pushed onto subway tracks) despite being a rare occurrence. (Out of about four million riders, on an average weekday, there were about 15 separate occasions total where people were pushed onto subway tracks in 2023 in New York). But the New York Times would never have the time to write an article on every individual who was killed in traffic fatalities in the city (in 2023, 265 people were killed in traffic fatalities). Additionally, your average road user is so used to witnessing car accidents (whether on the news or in person) that they are essentially desensitized and come to expect some of these as part of daily life.
The other portion of transit crime anxiety is simply the nature of riding public transportation. Riding in an enclosed space with strangers can make people hyper vigilant. Operating a personal vehicle means you control who can be in your physical proximity, what music you listen to, and the cleanliness of your surroundings. And even though most rides will not involve abnormal interactions, people tend to remember any negative altercations rather than the typical, boring daily commute.
Reducing the anxiety
Feelings might not care about facts, but transit advocates and leaders should. If the goal is to increase ridership, we must look to proven interventions that make transit users safer, both in reality and in perception.
One approach to improving safety is to center community-oriented models and establish community partnerships. Transit agencies do not have the resources to address safety issues related to mental health and drug use. Instead, some agencies have partnered with behavioral health-oriented programs to call for social workers and healthcare professionals rather than police officers specifically for non-violent offenses and non-criminal acts. One example is in Philly, SEPTA, which established the Safety, Cleaning, Ownership, Partnership, and Engagement (SCOPE) program that deploys trained mental healthcare workers to offer resources and referrals to vulnerable populations. The SCOPE program successfully reduced the number of people seeking shelter within SEPTA’s system by 35 percent in 2022.
In addition to increased frequency being a top priority for riders, reliable services also make transit safer. The less time a rider waits for a bus or train to arrive, the less potential there is for an incident. The most unsafe part of using transit is not on transit, but getting to the station or bus stop. Move Redmond conducted a survey and found that 62 percent of respondents would feel safer with more frequent service.
There are a myriad of opportunities to improve safety standards and cleanliness, as well as improve the public’s perception of their safety on transit. Even with clear data reinforcing the safety of riding transit, leaders and advocates still must work with the public to address those feelings and perceptions. Not only will doing so take away the stigma of public transportation, but it will also holistically improve the daily public good for everyone.
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