SEATTLE — In the wake of King County Metro Driver Shawn Yim’s death and memorial, a special King County Council meeting to discuss driver and rider safety has been scheduled.
The meeting is on Monday, January 13th at 9 a.m. Anyone who would like to attend or share concerns is welcome to do so.
Drivers say this is needed, as they fear every day the possibility that something could happen to them.
Over the past month, we’ve been speaking with one driver after another, all of them sharing troubling experiences.
“I’ve had people get on my bus with guns, knives, bats, hammers, a machete,” driver Eurayna Gregory said.
Immediately after Yim’s death, drivers and union representatives started demanding the county and Metro listen to what they had been saying for years.
“We need accountability, we want to trust. We want to come to work and feel that we’re being heard,” one driver said.
“I want to be able to go home at night without making a trip to the hospital first,” Metro driver Jeremy Une said.
In response, King County Metro is testing out new bus styles that promote driver safety.
It has ordered four “European style” test buses that have a driver compartment similar to a light rail or subway.
Metro is also considering a new design that would put drivers behind a locked door while in their seats.
Metro says over the past few years they have doubled the Transit Security staff from 80 to 170 officers, and are continuing to recruit new hires.
Drivers say that is a start, but they are also demanding a regional task force to improve safety and emergency funds to quickly hire those additional transit officers.