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The dead are not the passengers / Agency

King County Metro

King County, dba: King County Metro · Seattle, WA · NTD ID 00001

King County Metro reported 1,278 major safety and security events across 2014-2026, in which 29 people died. Against the service it actually delivered, that is 3.52 events per million vehicle revenue miles - worse than 77 of the 108 agencies big enough to rank, and 1.10x the national rate.

Full
Events per million miles
3.52
#31 of 108 agencies · national 3.21 · median 2.88
Events, all years
1,278
#17 nationally by raw count · 2014-2026
People killed
29
771 injured, 0 seriously
Service driven
144M
vehicle revenue miles, 2022-2024 · 508 events in that window
Its rate on a scale ending at the worst agency in the country (New Orleans Regional Transit Authority, 12.54). The tick is the national rate (3.21).
Who died on this system
  • People on the road 12
  • Waiting or boarding 6
  • Other or unclassified 4
  • Riding the vehicle 3
  • Suicides 2
  • People on the right-of-way 1
  • Transit workers 1

Mutually exclusive victim classes, summing to 29. Trespasser deaths are an overlay on these, not an extra row.

Its events, by year

2014: 59 → 2025: 143 · peak 181

2026 excluded - it is a partial year.

Assaults on its workers
2014: 0 worker assault events 2015: 0 worker assault events 2016: 0 worker assault events 2017: 0 worker assault events 2018: 0 worker assault events 2019: 0 worker assault events 2020: 0 worker assault events 2021: 1 worker assault events 2022: 1 worker assault events 2023: 6 worker assault events (after the reporting change) 2024: 9 worker assault events (after the reporting change) 2025: 0 worker assault events (after the reporting change)

17 total · peak 9 in a year

The dashed line is the 2023 FTA reporting change. Bars after it are better captured, so the step up across that line is partly a change in counting, not only a change in the world.

What it runs
  • Fixed-Route Bus 1,120
  • Other Non-Rail 112
  • Core Rail 46

Share of its events by mode. Mode mix moves a rate: street-running light rail generates several times the events per mile that suburban bus does, so read this beside the rate above.