Drug incidents down 35%
Drug incident reports on or near King County Metro decreased by more than one-third from 2023 to 2024. The positive trend coincides with the transit agency reinforcing expectations of riders, and encouraging employees and riders to report incidents.
In 2023, there were 1,578 drug-related incidents reported on or near Metro (e.g., buses, bus stops, transit centers, etc.). That represented roughly 1 incident per 49,000 boardings.
In 2024, there were 1,022 drug-related incidents reported, which represented about 1 incident per 80,000 boardings.
“More than 300,000 riders take Metro every weekday because it’s frequent, reliable, safe and clean,” said King County Metro General Manager Michelle Allison. “There is more work to do toward our goal of zero incidents, but this encouraging data—as well as supportive feedback from riders and Metro employees—show we’re moving in the right direction.”
Guided by in-depth engagement with Metro’s employees and riders, the agency updated signs on the inside of buses to more effectively communicate the Code of Conduct, and to let riders know what to do in an emergency and how to provide non-urgent customer feedback.
The new signs place renewed focus on clear communications—through larger text, more visuals and translations—and prioritization—by focusing on the parts of the Code of Conduct that riders and transit employees said were most important:
- Pay the right fare.
- Be respectful.
- Wear headphones.
- Do not harass the driver or riders.
- Do not smoke, vape, use drugs, eat, or drink alcohol.
- Do not lie down.
The Code of Conduct signs encourage customers to provide non-urgent feedback at kingcounty.gov/metro/ride or by calling 206-553-3000. In an emergency on transit or anywhere in King County, call or text 9-1-1. In addition, riders can tell their driver.
Your feedback is essential to helping Metro to fix issues in a timely manner and to deploy resources—from cleaning crews to security teams—as needed.
Metro employees are strongly encouraged to report and do so on paid time as part of their duties. The agency moved to a fully online reporting platform to allow for easier, faster reporting and quicker, tracked follow-ups to resolve incidents.
Metro is also participating in the King County Regional Transit Safety Task Force. This first-ever convening of advocacy and community groups; behavioral health and alternative response teams; government officials at the city, county and federal level; labor unions; law enforcement; public health and safety representatives; and transit agencies is tackling the broader community and neighborhood security challenges that affect transit.
Visuals of signs
Code of Conduct sign in English.
Code of Conduct sign in Spanish.
