WASHINGTON (7News) — The union that represents more than 8,000 Metro employees believes the transit agency is not doing enough to protect bus drivers.
ATU Local 689 has released disturbing video of a bus driver being assaulted by a rider, citing the incident as evidence of its ongoing concerns.
Metro Transit Police (MTPD) are asking for help in identifying someone who they said assaulted a bus driver in August 2026. (ATU Local 689)
The video shows surveillance of an assault that the Metro Transit Police Department (MTPD) said happened on Saturday, Aug. 1 on the M54 Route in Silver Spring.
The bus was on Rt. 29 near Woodmor Circle at the time, which is just north of the Woodmor shopping center in the area known as Four Corners.
The video shows a rider wearing a mask enter the bus. The driver quotes the fare and tells the man “excuse me sir, you can’t have that on the bus man.” The union said the driver was referring to an open drink that may have contained alcohol.
The man then swears a few times, eventually asking the driver, “you want this money?” He stands near the farebox.
SEE ALSO | Man in viral video assaulting woman has multiple prior offenses
ATU Local 689 said the driver tries to deescalate the situation and asks the man to stand behind a white line, but the man pulls at a barrier that partially covers the driver and then punches him repeatedly around the barrier as the bus is moving.
A rider eventually intervenes to stop the assault and the suspect leaves the bus.
Metro released a statement on Friday in response to the assault. It reads:
“The assault occurred aboard a Metro Bus in Montgomery County on August 1. While the incident remains under investigation, preliminary information shows the operator told the adult male suspect he could not bring an open alcoholic beverage on board. The individual then assaulted the operator after being asked to step behind the yellow line. The operator was treated for non-life-threatening injuries. MTPD is actively searching for this individual, and a Be on the Lookout (BOLO) has been issued seeking any information on his whereabouts.”
“Safety is a core value at Metro, and we are in the process of spending $17 million to outfit every bus with a fully enclosed shield – which will include upgrading existing bus shields – to further protect operators.”
The union said it’s frustrated that despite Metro working on installing shields for at least a decade, many buses still do not have full 100% shields to protect drivers. A spokesperson said the video they released proves that partial “85%” shields do little to protect bus drivers.
READ | Driver accused of being intoxicated after crashing into power pole in Fairfax County
At a press conference on safety this past week, Metro general manager Randy Clarke addressed the bus shield issue.
“We’ve invested over 15 million dollars in bus operator shields. 450 – give or take – buses are a hundred percent enclosed, all the rest of them are 85%,” Clarke said on Tuesday.
He added that around May of next year, all of the fleet was expected to be “fully enclosed.”
Local Story
