Amid a federal security probe of MARTA, union workers seek safer working conditions

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Members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 732 gather outside MARTA to protest low pay and unsafe working conditions.

Credit: Amanda Andrews/GPB News

A recent series of violent incidents around MARTA has drawn federal scrutiny to the metro Atlanta transit authority’s safety measures. 

But MARTA employees say they've been attempting to sound the alarm about the changing nature of violence on buses and trains for some time —without results. 

They're not giving up. On a sunny Thursday afternoon outside MARTA headquarters, the heat radiating off the pavement didn’t stop union members from demonstrating.

The demonstrators were with the Amalgamated Transit Workers Union Local 732. It represents about 3,000 transit workers in the Atlanta metro area, including MARTA employees like Jeremy Sygh.

“Some of these bus operators are getting assaulted and things like that by the public,” he said. “Sometimes MARTA police is not in sight.”

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Union members Jeremy Sygh and Stafford McIntosh pause during the protest to watch the MARTA Board meeting online.

Credit: Amanda Andrews/GPB News

Conflicts on public transit aren’t new, but bus operator Stafford McIntosh said the way they’re handled has changed. 

Mcintosh has seen plenty of incidents in his nearly 20 years working at MARTA. He said police response times are slower now.

“A lot of times you have something take place, you call the police, the person could literally just walk away,” McIntosh said. “No urgency. And make it scot-free away after doing something violent to our employees.”

McIntosh is an executive board member in the transit union. He said operators told MARTA leadership that unrealistic schedules were creating tension with riders before the bus even arrived.

"We can't possibly get to point A to point B at the same rate of a car," he said, "but you schedule us to the speed limit of the street, and we're driving a commercial vehicle where you have to stop and service people with ADAs and other physical disabilities."

So when the bus is 5 minutes late, riders are left waiting without answers — and disgruntled, he said.

"And all you know is that the bus operator is late," McIntosh said. "So now you have adverse interactions between the passenger and the frontline employees that could be avoided."

ATU Local 732 president David Ward has seen those passenger conflicts personally. He said even collecting fare can be a risk for bus drivers.

"It's really 'Don't ask people to pay' because when you ask them to pay then that's how you get assaulted," Ward said.

MARTA leaders report they’re working on a new Safety Risk Reduction Program that will address transit worker assaults. MARTA shared its latest security measures with the Federal Transit Administration in response to the feds' audit of assaults on workers and riders.  

During a board meeting, interim MARTA CEO Johnathan Hunt said it's working to fill empty positions at the MARTA police department.

"We have stepped up our MPD recruiting and hiring efforts and have been doing so for over the last 12 months," Hunt said. "They've yielded some really great results. We will continue to make this a priority."

In the meantime, while Ward said Georgia law places heavy penalties on people who assault transit workers, he doesn’t believe the law is well enforced.  

"It has to be better enforcement of that," he said. "Normally when these types of things happen on the trains or on the buses, individuals are out of jail the next day."

While MARTA leadership reports violence has dropped across the transit system since 2020, union members are pressing ahead with contract negotiations in which their safety is still a top priority.

Ward said he wants to see more collaboration on policing.

"Whatever their issues are, [they're] ultimately going to be our issues and vice versa," he said. "So we just want to make sure that we have a seat at the table so we're not on the menu."