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The dead are not the passengers / Agency

Washington Metro

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, dba: Washington Metro · Washington, DC · NTD ID 30030

Washington Metro reported 4,026 major safety and security events across 2014-2026, in which 102 people died. Against the service it actually delivered, that is 2.91 events per million vehicle revenue miles - worse than 56 of the 108 agencies big enough to rank, and 1.10x better than the national rate.

Full
Events per million miles
2.91
#52 of 108 agencies · national 3.21 · median 2.88
Events, all years
4,026
#6 nationally by raw count · 2014-2026
People killed
102
4,691 injured, 82 seriously
Service driven
394M
vehicle revenue miles, 2022-2024 · 1,148 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
  • Suicides 47
  • Waiting or boarding 18
  • People on the road 13
  • People on the right-of-way 8
  • Riding the vehicle 7
  • Other or unclassified 6
  • Transit workers 3

Mutually exclusive victim classes, summing to 102. Trespasser deaths are an overlay on these, not an extra row.

Its events, by year

2014: 249 → 2025: 347 · peak 402

2026 excluded - it is a partial year.

Assaults on its workers
2014: 6 worker assault events 2015: 14 worker assault events 2016: 13 worker assault events 2017: 11 worker assault events 2018: 11 worker assault events 2019: 17 worker assault events 2020: 10 worker assault events 2021: 17 worker assault events 2022: 21 worker assault events 2023: 37 worker assault events (after the reporting change) 2024: 32 worker assault events (after the reporting change) 2025: 19 worker assault events (after the reporting change)

210 total · peak 37 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 2,676
  • Core Rail 992
  • Other Non-Rail 358

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.

Compare

Other agencies in DC

The biggest systems in the country

Numbers on the chips are events per million vehicle revenue miles, 2022-2024.

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Generated 2026-07-13 02:56 UTC

Source: FTA National Transit Database - Major Safety and Security Events, joined to NTD Metrics for the service denominator

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