Transit Crime Reporting Act Mandates Annual Safety Reports and Creates Expert Task Force for Public Transit

The Transit Crime Reporting Act of 2025 is pretty straightforward: it tackles the question of safety on public transit by demanding better data and creating a dedicated team to find solutions.

The Annual Safety Scorecard

First up, this bill makes crime reporting mandatory and public. Specifically, Section 2 requires the Secretary of Transportation to issue an annual report detailing all violent and non-violent crimes occurring on any federally funded transit system. If your local bus, subway, or light rail gets federal dollars (which most do, via Chapter 53 of Title 49, U.S. Code), its crime stats are now part of this public scorecard. The good news for the government is they don’t have to start from scratch; they’ll use data transit agencies already submit to the National Transit Database (NTD). This means that for riders, transparency increases immediately. If you’re deciding on the safest route for your commute or your kid’s trip to school, this mandatory public data provides a clear, consistent benchmark. The first report is due quickly—within 90 days of the law passing—and then annually by January 1st.

Building the Safety Brain Trust

Beyond data, the bill creates a dedicated group to figure out what to do with that data. Section 3 establishes a Task Force, chaired by the Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), to study and recommend ways to boost transit safety. This isn't just a group of bureaucrats; the bill mandates a diverse team of 12 members, including five leaders from different transit agencies (covering urban, suburban, and rural areas), three law enforcement representatives, two transit worker representatives, and two industry experts. This blend of perspectives—from the people who run the trains to the people who ride them and the people who police them—is crucial.

From Data to Actionable Plans

The Task Force isn't just for show; they have deadlines and mandates. They must send Congress an initial check-in report one year after the law is enacted, and a final, comprehensive report within two years. This final report must include specific recommendations on how the federal government can update rules, change existing laws, or pass new ones to empower local systems to improve safety. For the average commuter, this means the bill sets a two-year clock on moving from identifying the problem (via the annual crime reports) to proposing concrete, expert-backed solutions. The goal is to move beyond reacting to crime and towards proactive, systemic safety improvements.

The Administrative Lift

While this bill is a win for transparency and safety planning, it does put pressure on the federal agencies and the transit systems themselves. For the Secretary of Transportation, compiling that first crime report within 90 days of enactment is a tight turnaround, requiring rapid coordination and data aggregation from the NTD. For the transit agencies, while they already report data, the increased scrutiny and the need for their leaders and workers to participate in the Task Force will add to their administrative load. However, this is a necessary cost to ensure that safety on public transit—a critical service for millions of workers and students—is prioritized and addressed with data-driven policy.