BOSTON (WHDH) - A routine bus ride left MBTA bus driver Patty Hardy fearing for her life.
“He came to my door and he said, ‘I’ll stab you. I will kill you,’” Hardy remembered. “I’m like, is this how I’m going to die today?”
The memory of one of her passengers threatening her life is still one that Hardy vividly remembers.
“I could not get my seat belt off fast enough because I didn’t want to sit there and be a sitting duck, just in case he did want to stab me,” Hardy said.
Fortunately, Hardy was not harmed that day but she said the nearly deadly run-in is far from isolated.
“If it’s not a knife, we get verbally abused, we get yelled at, we get sworn at, we get threatened,” she said.
7 Investigates obtained video of numerous incidents of agitated passengers turning hostile. In one instance, a woman gets in the face of a bus driver before smashing the bus door. Video footage shows another commute interrupted by a man who slams his scooter into the bus’ front windshield.
“A person usually goes to work, they clock in, they clock out, they go home. Some of us don’t know if we’re ever going to make it home,” Hardy said. “It’s a scary reality as you’re just trying to serve the public.”
Footage posted across the MBTA Transit police social media pages shows a passenger wielding a weapon above a driver’s head. Another post shows a man attempting to pry open bus doors following a road rage incident. Other posts describe transit workers getting spit on and sprayed by commuters.
Transit workers across Boston feel the fear of these incidents from the roads to the rails.
“He said the next time I see you, I’ll put a bullet in your f**ing head and he just continued to scream and swear as he walked away,” remembered Vincent Su, a conductor on the MBTA commuter rail. “For the next couple weeks, my head was definitely on a swivel while I was at work just making sure this guy wasn’t going to pop up somewhere.”
Su has worked as a conductor for over a decade but said since the pandemic he’s experienced an uptick in unruly passengers and physical assaults.
“This isn’t what we signed up for. We do kind of expect that sometimes we are going to get problematic passengers that’s just part of the job,” Su said. “But, the death threats, the physical assault, the physical abuse, that’s not something we signed up for. I definitely feel less safe going to work.”
More than 900 MBTA transit workers have been assaulted in the last two years, according to federal data. The number of assaults increased by 25% in 2024.
The issue extends beyond the Bay State with assaults on transit workers nationwide doubling between 2014 and 2024, according to data from the National Transit Database.
“It feels like I should be carrying a gun,” admitted MBTA bus driver Alix Gaston. “It shouldn’t be part of the job. I’m not a cop so it shouldn’t be part of the job.”
Gaston told 7 Investigates he’s been spat on and had drinks thrown on him. The outbursts leave him feeling helpless.
“We sit behind the wheel, you know, we sit in there, we can’t go anywhere. We can’t retaliate,” he said. Gaston said that he fears not only for himself but also for his passengers.
“If you have somebody in your face, and you know say they try and reach for the steering wheel or something, anything, you don’t know what people are going to do,” Gaston said. “I know other drivers that have dealt with that. Somebody tried to press the gas for them…or press the break for them, it’s a tough situation to be in, it’s scary.”
The increasing fear is leading some to leave the industry. The workers remaining are pushing for more to be done.
Su, Gaston and Hardy said they would like to see tougher consequences for passengers who attack transit workers.
“It’s sad because a lot of times there are no consequences to be paid for things that people do,” Hardy said.
Last year the federal government recognized the growing risk for attacks and ordered public transportation agencies across the nation to assess their risks and create plans to minimize them.
The MBTA told 7 Investigates it has created de-escalation training and is working to further expand the presence of cameras in passenger areas.
The agency is also updating subway cars so that train operators can be fully enclosed. As agencies work to increase protections, workers are pleading directly with passengers.
“What I want people to understand is that I’m your neighbor, I’m a father, so just the same way you want me to treat you, I want the same thing in reverse. I just want you to be aware that we are all human,” Gaston said.
“This is just a uniform, this is just a job. I’m just trying to take you from point A to point B.” “I’m a person. I’m a human being. I’m a mom, I’m a widow,” Hardy echoed.
Transit workers encourage everyone to help. If you see incidents happening, take videos of the assault and alert the MBTA Transit Police.
More evidence helps hold attackers accountable in court. The MBTA also has an app called ‘See Say’ that connects users directly with transit police.
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