Trump’s Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy Launches Investigation of Atlanta MARTA Security Spending & Safety Plans

String of fatal stabbings - including the tragic murder of a great-grandmother in broad daylight -
raise serious concerns about management of system

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy today directed the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to launch an investigation of Atlanta's Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA). The investigation-which will review the transit agency's security spending, safety protocols, and risks to riders and workers-comes on the heels of two attacks in broad daylight on MARTA property in a week's time:

• On May 30, a 66-year-old woman was fatally stabbed(link is external) 20 times by a man while riding a MARTA train.
• On May 24, a 40-year-old man was stabbed(link is external) multiple times following an altercation in a MARTA station.

"Every American should be disturbed by the horrific crimes we have seen on MARTA in the last month. No one should be forced to fear for their safety simply because they choose to ride public transit," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy. "From our nation's capital to Chicago, we've made substantial progress in holding systems accountable and enhancing security for transit workers and riders. President Trump has made it clear that American families deserve better, and that's what we are going to deliver in Georgia too."

MARTA's rate of personal security events (assaults, robberies, rapes, etc.) for MARTA employees and riders is nearly twice the national average. This trend is particularly concerning on MARTA's rail lines, where the rate is three-and-a-half times higher than the national average.

The FTA investigation will determine if systemic conditions exist that endanger the public or transit workforce on the Atlanta system.

Secretary Duffy's Actions to Make Transit Safer:

Since the beginning of the Trump Administration, Secretary Duffy has launched a number of initiatives to hold both states and transit systems accountable for their failure to keep commuters and transit workers safe on their systems.

Under his leadership, FTA has called on agencies across the country to improve safety measures, including:

• Chicago's CTA
• Washington D.C.'s WMATA
• New York City's MTA
• Los Angeles Metro
• Charlotte Area Transit System
• Philadelphia's SEPTA

These actions have resulted in:

• CTA agreed to boost police patrols by 75% under new security plan.
• WMATA seeing crime reported(link is external) on its trains down by more than 30% and criminal incidents on buses down by nearly 40% in 2025.
• Charlotte City Council voting to expand(link is external) the jurisdiction for the private security company that patrols the transit system as well as North Carolina passing(link is external) Iryna's Law, which seeks to change pretrial release conditions for people charged with violent offenses, among other measures.
• Metro Los Angeles hiring their first-ever police chief to lead a dedicated transit police force.
• SEPTA launching(link is external) new security measures including a virtual patrol division to monitor over 30,000 cameras and provide real-time information to officers on the ground and putting more officers on trains.
• San Francisco's BART system installing Next Generation Fare Gates at all 50 BART stations to combat fare evasion

Additional Information:

FTA is providing MARTA 15 days to submit the following information:

• Crime & Fare Evasion Mitigation: Detailed action plans and historical data trends regarding crime and fare evasion enforcement.
• Security & Safety Funding: A full breakdown of Fiscal Year 2026 budgeted and Fiscal Year 2027 planned funding earmarked for passenger and worker security, compared against prior-year spending. This must include:
  • Security: Expenditures and budgeted funds that meet the Federal transit program security capital projects set-aside requirement for Urbanized Area Formula Grants (49 U.S.C. § 5307(c)(1)(J)(i)).
  • Safety: Expenditures and budgeted funds that meet the Federal transit program safety set-aside requirement under 49 U.S.C. § 5329(d)(4)(B).
  • Non-FTA Federal Funds: All safety-directed funding received from other federal entities, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

As part of their investigation, FTA staff will assess:

• MARTA's compliance with 49 CFR Part 673 (Public Transportation Agency Safety Plans program).
• The sufficiency of the agency's response to prior FTA directives regarding transit rider and worker safety.

Concurrently, FTA will independently conduct:

1. An official assessment of MARTA's Safety Risk Reduction Program specifically targeting assaults on transit workers.
2. An evaluation of the effectiveness of mitigations implemented by MARTA in response to General Directive 24-1 (Required Actions Regarding Assaults on Transit Workers), issued by FTA on September 25, 2024.

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