The Tucson City Council adopted a Transit Safety and Security Action Plan on Tuesday.
Though violent crimes on the city’s Sun Tran bus system are uncommon, city officials have recently taken a firmer stance on visible social issues like public drug use and homelessness. In its final form, the transit safety plan reflects several concerns raised specifically by Sun Tran bus drivers.
The plan proposes several near-term and long-term policies. In the near term, the city plans to boost police presence in the Sun Tran system and make improvements to bus stops. A slate of long-term goals includes systemwide surveillance upgrades and a transit ambassador program.
Its long-term goals hinge on passage of the RTA Next ballot measure in March. RTA Next would extend an expiring transportation-related sales tax in Pima County.
In recent months, Tucson Mayor Regina Romero has said the city must address visible things that make people feel unsafe despite statistics showing crime declining in Tucson.
“Crime is going down in our city, but yet, our neighbors, our residents in Tucson are still tangibly seeing the crisis of unsheltered homelessness and the public health crisis of fentanyl and opioid misuse,” Romero said at the November launch of a public safety task force.
Still, a number of violent crimes took place on the Sun Tran system this year, including a fatal hatchet attack in April and a shooting on a bus in October.
Vast majority of Sun Tran “safety events” are low-level, without specific incident reports.##
During preliminary discussions about transit safety in October, Tucson City Council members were shown a statistic: there were 15,394 safety events on the Sun Tran system between January and May 2025, averaging around 100 events a day.
“Some of them are nuisance things, nothing things. But still, 100 things a day. It should be, like, five,” said council member Paul Cunningham at the October meeting.
In fact, the vast majority of the 15,394 events reported by Sun Tran fall under a broad definition including anything that “may compromise safety, security, or order within the transit system,” according to a presentation shown to the Tucson Transit Advisory Committee in October.
“These represent routine, low-risk interactions—such as asking someone to move along, conducting welfare checks, or assisting passengers—and do not involve threats or safety concerns,” wrote Sun Tran’s general manager, Mikel Oglesby, in a statement to AZPM News.
Only 1,097 of those events rose to the level of a “security incident,” in which a Sun Tran security officer writes an incident report, according to the advisory committee presentation. Almost all of those incidents were drug and loitering offenses occurring at bus stops. Only 28 were assaults.
As of late November, there were 12 assaults against Tucson bus operators this year, according to a Sun Tran spokesperson.
Most security events are logged by Sun Tran security “rovers” who patrol bus stops. Spending on the rovers grew from about $175,000 in 2021 to more than $560,000 in 2024. Total safety and security spending by Sun Tran grew from about $608,000 to over $1.6 million in that time period.
Plan’s short-term goals answer bus drivers’ concerns, long-term goals rely on March ballot measure##
Many of the transit safety plan’s recommendations reflect concerns raised by Sun Tran bus drivers, unionized through Teamsters Local 104. The union — which typically endorses Democrats — had made an unusual endorsement of a Republican city council candidate in October.
“This is a declaration of the urgent need for leadership to address the escalating crisis of violence and illicit drug use plaguing Tucson's public transit system,” that endorsement of Jay Tolkoff, who later lost in the November elections, read.
City staff met with about 50 drivers during the plan’s drafting process, Tucson Director of Transportation and Mobility Sam Credio told council members on Tuesday. He said drivers criticized disorganized communication channels between themselves, Sun Tran security officers and the Tucson Police Department.
“There is no formal protocol for immediate coordination or rapid response between TPD field officers and Sun Tran dispatch,” the plan document reads.
According to the plan, the city is already organizing safety data held by different agencies, defining standard procedures for responding to security incidents, and launching regular meetings between TPD, Sun Tran security and city officials.
“I think the transit safety action plan will clean up the communication systems,” Romero told AZPM News.
The plan sets two near-term goals. One sets aside $150,000 for renovations at select bus stops adding “deterrent rocks” and lighting, a major concern for drivers. The other allocates $350,000 for TPD overtime deployments in the transit system.
“We heard direct feedback from the operators that they would like to see more police presence in the transit system,” Credio said in a meeting of Tucson’s transit advisory committee on Monday.
The plan’s long-term goals include systemwide bus stop lighting and camera installations, increased funding for security officers and TPD deployments, and making permanent a Sun Tran homelessness outreach ambassador program. The plan also includes a draft of a new rider suspension policy.
In a statement, a Teamsters Local 104 spokesperson said the union “welcomes” the city’s plan.
“However, any policy must address the present levels of violence and lawlessness and then must be matched with prompt implementation and enforcement to be effective,” the spokesperson wrote.
The city’s transit advisory committee, a volunteer body, voted to support the city’s plan on Monday.
