NEW YORK (AP) — In a dimly lit room decorated with lights and ivy, transit agency workers stream in and lie down on inflatable cots. Soothing piano music plays as a teacher helps them rub their ankles and toes and tucks each one in with a warm blanket and eye mask.
“Breathe in,” she says, “and imagine a balloon inflating with fresh energy. Feel your spine soften.”
Teacher Lalita Dunbar walks around the classroom spraying lavender and lemon-scented mist.
“When the bell rings, take a deep breath,” she says.
The relaxation class, held at New York City Transit workers’ union hall, has emerged as one of the ways transit workers across the country are trying to manage fear and anxiety about a rise in violent crime on subways and buses — concerns that have been heightened in recent months after a series of particularly brutal attacks on bus drivers, subway operators and station staff.
Reports of crimes against transit workers have increased since the pandemic began in 2020, when millions of Americans suddenly began avoiding subways and buses for fear of contracting COVID-19. The exodus of employees left transit workers more isolated and vulnerable to attack.
But even as more travelers take subways and buses, rates of violent crime on transit remain high. This level of crime is all the more alarming because it coincides with a steady decline in violent crime overall in the United States over the past three years.
Nationwide, reported serious assaults against transit employees reached a 15-year high in 2023, up 47% from 2020. And between 2011 and 2023, assaults more than quadrupled, according to an Associated Press analysis of Federal Transit Administration data.
In contrast, overall reported violent crime in the U.S. has declined every year since 2020, according to FBI data.
“We are under attack every day,” said Blanca Acosta de Avalos, a bus driver in Omaha, Nebraska, who was viciously assaulted three years ago by a man who followed several women onto her bus. “We have no protection.”
Finding ways to reduce stress for transportation workers
As transit workers try to cope with the stress of threats of violence, some unions and transit agencies are exploring ways to reduce violence and ease anxiety.
In New York, transit unions began offering free relaxation sessions as well as yoga and meditation classes this year after a subway driver was found to have his throat slashed in February as he looked out the train window at a Brooklyn station. The victim was treated at a hospital and released with 34 stitches.
“Being a bus driver means having to be on your toes every moment of every day, and there’s no time to relax,” says New York City bus driver Grace Walker. “You’re driving a pretty big piece of machinery, and the lives of a lot of passengers are at risk.”
Walker, who took part in the relaxation classes, said it helped her de-stress.
Transit agencies in Omaha and elsewhere are teaching drivers de-escalation techniques to help them defuse potential conflicts. For example, drivers are instructed to remain polite and quiet if a passenger makes an unpleasant remark. As another measure, some labor unions are pushing for the installation of barriers to separate drivers and protect them from assaults.
“I’m always on guard,” said Laticia Wright, who was driving a bus in Columbus, Ohio, last August when a bullet went through the windshield and grazed her head. “I watch the hands and movements of people on the bus.”
Wright opened the door for several men waiting at the bus stop, and as one of them got in, an SUV pulled up in front of the bus and someone inside opened fire.
The passenger dropped to the floor and yelled at Wright to “drive!”
“I was so hurt and upset and screaming and trying to avoid the bullets,” Wright recalled. “I could hear the bullets going off and I could feel the glass and stuff falling on my neck. It burned my neck and my shirt.”
As he drove, Wright swung his arms and made the car turn sharply in search of some kind of shelter.
“Are you okay?” a passenger cried over the din.
Wright wasn’t hit by a bullet, but was hit by broken glass. She was so devastated that she stayed home for three weeks and spoke to a counselor every day through the Employee Assistance Program.
“I really had to forget about it,” she said. “Sometimes I go to that area and it brings something to me. I just rush through it.”
Nearly a year after the shooting, Wright’s doctors believe she may be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. She recently woke up in a sweat after hearing popping sounds.
“It reminded me of that moment,” she said. “Now I see all these white SUVs going by my car or my bus. Are they going to start shooting?”
Wright gets chair massages at her workplace to help her relax, but her main coping mechanism is prayer. In stressful situations, she says to herself: “Okay, God. Take the wheel. Calm this situation. Calm me down.”
The problems began during the pandemic
Transit officials and authorities largely attribute the rise in violence to the lingering effects of the pandemic. After COVID-19 hit, many transit agencies allowed passengers to ride for free. Some people struggling to find housing turned to buses and subways as shelters. More riders overdosed on drugs. People who previously took public transportation to get to work stayed home.
Even now, public transit ridership nationwide is only at 75% of pre-COVID levels, according to the American Public Transportation Association. As of last year, New York City subway ridership was at 68% of pre-COVID levels, and bus ridership was at 63%, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority reported.
Wright, the Columbus bus driver, said violence has spiked in recent years as local mental health facilities have closed and housing prices have made it difficult for many to stay in their homes.
Very stressful occupation
A review of dozens of studies published in the Journal of Transportation and Health found that even under the best of circumstances, transport workers suffer disproportionately high levels of anxiety, depression and stress-related illnesses, including heart disease and musculoskeletal disorders. A report by the International Transport Workers’ Federation found that during the pandemic, fears of contracting the virus and being threatened or assaulted by passengers have increased.
“It may not just be the severity of the traumatic experience, but also the frequency,” said Alexis Merzhanov, a co-investigator of the New York University study of transit workers. “Verbal abuse is occurring much more frequently, and we’re noticing a really big impact on anxiety, depression, and overall mental health.”
Paul Landsburgis, an occupational health expert at the State University of New York Downstate, said European researchers have found that bus drivers, especially those in urban areas, have the highest risk of heart disease and high blood pressure of any occupational group.
Initiatives to improve worker safety
Landsbergis said Stockholm, Copenhagen and other European cities have made more progress than U.S. cities in improving conditions for transit workers. Reforms that have helped reduce stress include increasing staffing and giving workers more flexibility in their work hours and vacation schedules.
The driver, Acosta de Avalos, who was assaulted in Omaha, opened the bus door to try to help several women fleeing the man, but the man followed them into the bus and when Acosta de Avalos tried to call for help, she was attacked.
“He hit me in the face, on my back and in my legs,” she said. “I wondered what would have happened if he had had a gun or a knife. My life could have ended right then and there.”
After being out of work for four months, Acosta de Avalos was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Prayer helps, she said. Playing guitar with her kids helps, too. When she gets nervous at work, she takes deep breaths.
“I’m still scared, but I’m trying to be strong,” Acosta de Avalos said, “But when someone starts screaming, I feel sick. I’m scared.”
Chris Nanke, a veteran driver who heads the Transport Workers Union Local 223, said her union wants tougher penalties for attacks on transport workers and more funding to support prosecutions.
Nanke said it used to be common for bus drivers to stay on the job for decades in Omaha, but rising violence has led many veteran drivers to quit.
“I have a guy who is deathly afraid to drive,” he says. “He’s been assaulted or threatened about six times. When I started, he had a very stable home life. He was rarely assaulted.”
The Federal Transit Administration changed how transit agencies approach safety this spring, putting stricter requirements on the safety plans that transit agencies must submit to receive federal funding. Transit agencies must include equal representation of front-line transit workers and management on the committees that draft safety plans. They also must establish programs to reduce assaults, such as installing sturdy barriers on buses and posting signs warning of penalties for assaults.
“No one should have to go to work wondering if they’re going to get home at the end of the day,” said John Costa, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents about 200,000 transit workers in the U.S. and Canada.
In Europe, some buses have cockpits that completely enclose the driver, something that’s rare in the U.S. for now.
Amid rising violence this year, officials in Columbus, where Wright’s bus was shot at, have formed a response team trained in mental health, addictions and de-escalation, according to Keith Layton, director of the Central Ohio Transit Authority. Members of the team are dispatched to buses if a passenger becomes unsafe. They can also place unruly passengers in another vehicle.
Columbus offers free yoga classes to drivers. A few years ago, some transit agencies, including Columbus and New York City, installed barriers on buses. But the barriers don’t completely enclose the driver, and Wright worries that passengers could pour gasoline or sulfuric acid on him, trapping him inside.
“I’ve had people pull out knives just for saying, ‘Can you turn down the radio?'” she said. “I wish there was more security.”
The New York Transit Authority is testing floor-to-ceiling barriers on buses, and subway trains are considering adding cameras inside cabs.
Gov. Kathy Hawkle in March deployed 1,000 officers, including state police and the National Guard, to help with baggage screening in busy areas of the subway. Hawkle also said the city would install cameras focused on conductors’ compartments to help track down perpetrators.
Meanwhile, New York unions are also offering CPR and “stop the bleed” classes, in addition to relaxation and yoga classes.
“It actually helps you relax your mind and get into a kind of Zen state where your mind is clear of everything,” said Richard Davis, president of the Transport Workers Union Local 100. “It helps you think more clearly and gives you a goal of how to resolve a situation or how to interact with other people.”
Among the participants in a recent relaxation class was Margana Marin, a subway station cleaner whose job involves mopping up human waste and sometimes having to avoid passengers tossing trash as she empties bins.
When a passenger insults Marin, she takes a deep breath and uses a strategy her mother taught her as a child: Count to 10. If that doesn’t work, she counts again. Or she walks away.
After the relaxation class, Marin said she felt energized.
Merzhanov, a co-investigator on the New York University study, said classes designed to help people feel some control over stressful situations provide tools they can use, such as breathing exercises.
Wright, a bus driver in Columbus, said she often feels like a social worker or a school teacher.
“You have to wear many hats on the bus,” she says, “and you have to think fast and quickly, because that’s how people come at you. I’m just doing it every day until I can’t anymore.”
“I pray a lot and ask God to bring me home safely.”
Associated Press reporters Christopher L. Keller in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Patrick Orsagos in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report.
