MA: An overdue protection for transit workers we all depend upon (The Republican Editorials)

Spitting on the state’s transit workers now comes with a stiffer penalty for those caught. That bit of common sense was written into state law late last year, a step we applaud.

But we must ask. Why did it take the Legislature three years to get the job done?

Back in 2023, unions supporting workers with transit systems like the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) and the local Pioneer Valley Transit Authority (PVTA) offered a similar bill. It went nowhere.

The law now enables law enforcement to charge anyone who releases saliva or urine on a bus driver or train operator with assault and battery.

In addition to protecting public transit workers, the law extends to employees of private transportation companies, like Peter Pan in Springfield.

Found guilty of such gross behavior like spitting on a driver, an offender will serve up to two and a half years in prison and pay a fine of between $500 and $5,000.

Union leaders testifying in favor of the new law told lawmakers last year that transit workers need the extra protection. An increasing number of upset and impatient public transit riders have been attacking operators.

“This law ensures that people don’t feel entitled to put their hands on our employees,” said William Berardino, vice president of the Boston Carmen’s Union. “All transportation workers deserve respect.”

It turns out that when communities support transit workers, assaults decrease. That’s been the case in Worcester, where the Worcester Regional Transit Authority has increased security at depots with the help of the local police department. The transit authority has recorded 15 assaults on transit personnel, a decrease compared to previous years.

If the new law has the effect that the governor and transit workers hope, we’ll see a statewide decrease in transit worker assaults. In 2024, transit authorities reported more than 650 assaults, about 75% of which were verbal.

But that means that approximately 150 transit workers were assaulted either physically or by having saliva or urine tossed on them.

Here in the Connecticut River Valley, the PVTA reported 19 physical assaults in the 2024 fiscal year.

Let’s hope that the new law protecting transit workers offers some deterrent. If not outright protection, at least transit workers now know we have their backs – though it took a while.

©2026 Advance Local Media LLC.
Visit masslive.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.