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9/19/2025
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (T&I) leaders, the Republican Conference and the Federal Transit Administration are calling for security improvements to public transportation systems in the wake of the fatal stabbing last month of a young woman on a Lynx light-rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The call for improved security followed the T&I Committee's Subcommittee on Highways and Transit's closed-door roundtable meeting held yesterday with transit and law enforcement officials and stakeholders. The meeting was held to discuss the need to identify actionable solutions to improve security on publicly funded transportation systems and restore the public's trust in those systems, T&I officials said in an press release.
According to the Congressional Research Service, crime on public transportation systems has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic. Homicides on transit systems have more than doubled between 2020 and 2024, and assaults on transit systems increased by 80%, T&I officials said.
"While law enforcement and the justice system have their obligations to keep the public safe and ensure that justice prevails, Congress has an obligation to address any shortcomings that threaten public safety and implement appropriate measures of deterrence and prevention," said T&I Chairman Sam Graves (R-Mo.).
The next surface transportation reauthorization bill that the T&I committee is developing will prioritize safety on transit systems, Graves added. The T&I committee and the Highways and Transit subcommittee of the T&I committee are developing a bipartisan surface transportation reauthorization bill for Congress to succeed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, which will expire Sept. 30, 2026.
Transit and law enforcement and stakeholders attending yesterday's roundtable were FTA Administrator Marcus Molinaro; American Public Transportation Association President and CEO Paul Skoutelas; Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority General Manager and CEO Randy Clarke; Kansas City, Missouri, Police Chief Stacey Graves; and Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO President Greg Regan.