Critical Bus Operator Safety Legislation Results from Years of Advocacy

For years, SMART-TD’s bus and transit members have delivered a simple message to lawmakers and regulators: no one should have to risk being assaulted simply for showing up to work.

This week, that message was heard loud and clear in the U.S. Senate.

On Wednesday, August 5, Senators Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced the bipartisan Bus Operator Safety and Security Act, legislation requiring newly purchased, federally funded fixed-route buses 30 feet or longer to include barriers fully enclosing the operator’s workstation.

For SMART-TD, its introduction represents more than another bill in Washington. It is evidence that years of work by our Bus Department, National Legislative Department and Bus and Transit Assault Prevention and Safety (BTAPS) Committee are breaking through.

We took our members’ stories to Capitol Hill. We brought their experiences to the Federal Transit Administration. Across the country, we have pushed lawmakers, regulators and transit agencies to recognize that assaults are not simply “part of the job.”

Now, lawmakers from both parties are stepping forward to champion the solution.

Hawley Again Stands with Transportation Workers

SMART-TD sincerely thanks both senators for putting in the work to protect our bus operators.

We are particularly pleased ( though not surprised) to once again find Senator Josh Hawley standing with transportation workers.

For SMART-TD members, Hawley’s support has become a pattern. He voted to provide railroad workers seven paid sick days, co-sponsored the Railway Safety Act and backed the Railroad Employee Equity and Fairness (REEF) Act to protect railroad unemployment and sickness benefits.

He has also stood with our Bus Department, supporting public transit safety and pushing back against the replacement of skilled transportation professionals with autonomous vehicles.

Supporting SMART-TD members is on brand for Senator Hawley.

Our members have come to anticipate that when transportation workers need someone willing to listen and fight, Missouri’s senior senator will be in the conversation.

But we never take that support for granted.

Senator Hawley has quickly established himself as one of our union’s and all transportation workers’ most reliable champions. Every vote, every co-sponsorship, and every time he uses his office to stand with working people is noticed and appreciated.

SMART-TD also thanks Senator Jack Reed for his leadership in bringing this legislation forward and for working across the aisle to address an urgent safety issue. Reed understands an important truth: an attack on someone operating a moving bus threatens not only the operator, but every passenger, driver, and pedestrian around that vehicle.

Protecting the operator protects everyone.

Bipartisan support in both chambers

The Reed-Hawley legislation is the Senate companion to H.R. 6635, the Bus Operator Safety and Security Act, introduced in the House by Rep. Shomari Figures (D-Ala.) and Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.).

SMART-TD thanks Figures, Van Drew and the growing bipartisan group for supporting this effort.

Our union has made progress confronting transit violence under both the Biden and Trump administrations, and the cooperation surrounding this issue demonstrates what government can accomplish when working people come before partisan politics.

BTAPS took the fight to Washington

SMART-TD created BTAPS in 2023 to turn the firsthand experience of our members into action, and that is exactly what the committee has done.

Working with our Bus Department and National Legislative Department, BTAPS members have walked the halls of Congress, met with federal regulators and brought the reality of transit violence directly to decision-makers. During SMART-TD’s first Bus/Transit Day on the Hill, our delegation visited 15 members of Congress and the FTA.

The committee has also worked on solutions at the local property level, including helping develop a pilot program with Local 1594 and SEPTA involving glare-resistant, bullet-resistant operator barriers.

BTAPS members haven’t been theorizing about this problem from behind a desk. They have been working on the solution.

The introduction of the Bus Operator Safety and Security Act in both chambers calling for fully enclosed operator workstations is exactly the kind of change BTAPS was intended to produce.

Washington heard us

There is still work ahead. Introduction is not passage, and SMART-TD will keep fighting until meaningful protections become law.

But this week deserves to be celebrated.

SMART-TD thanks Senators Reed and Hawley, Representatives Figures and Van Drew, their bipartisan colleagues, the professionals at the FTA, our allies throughout transportation labor, and everyone who has helped move this issue forward.

Most importantly, we recognize our SMART-TD Bus Department, National Legislative Department and BTAPS Committee for refusing to accept violence against transit workers as part of the job.

You took our members’ message to Capitol Hill.

You took it to the FTA.

You carried it across the country.

Washington heard you.