Enhancing Transit Safety for Riders and Workers Through Strategic Collaboration with Law Enforcement

Public transit agencies across the United States face growing public safety and security challenges affecting both riders and frontline workers. Reported incidents involving assault, harassment, disorderly conduct, and other safety-related events have increased over the past decade, contributing to workforce shortages, declining employee morale, and reduced rider confidence. Public safety concerns are also influencing ridership behavior, with some riders shifting to alternative travel modes because of perceived or actual safety risks. These trends threaten the reliability, financial sustainability, and broader societal benefits of public transportation. To address these challenges, transit agencies use a range of public safety approaches, including partnerships with local law enforcement, contracted security services, transit police departments, and hybrid or community-based safety models. These approaches vary considerably in structure, governance, roles, operational practices, and public acceptance. Barriers such as unclear roles and responsibilities, inconsistent coordination, limited data sharing, and misalignment between transit agency and law enforcement objectives can hinder effective collaboration. At the same time, transit agencies are increasingly expected to balance enforcement with customer service, accessibility, and community trust. The Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) has conducted research on public safety and security, including measuring and managing fare evasion (2022), homelessness on transit systems (2024), and mitigation strategies for deterring transit assaults (2025). In addition, TCRP syntheses have documented current practices on customer perceptions of safety and security (2025) and impacts of drug use (2025), as well as ongoing research examining delivery models for law enforcement on public transit. Research is needed to better understand which collaboration strategies between transit agencies, law enforcement, and related stakeholders are most effective under varying operating environments and community contexts. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this research is to develop a toolkit with step-by-step guidance, decision frameworks, and templates to help public transportation agencies collaborate with law enforcement agencies.

• Record URL:
  • http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=5998
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Contract to a Performing Organization has not yet been awarded.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Programmed
• Funding: $300,000.00
• Contract Numbers:

  Project A-56

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Transit Cooperative Research Program

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC    20001

  Federal Transit Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Project Managers:

  Schoby, Jamaal

• Start Date: 20261201
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Improvements; Law enforcement; Occupational safety; Transit operating agencies; Transit riders; Transit safety
• Subject Areas: Passenger Transportation; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01973727
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: Project A-56
• Files: TRB, RIP
• Created Date: Dec 8 2025 7:39PM