I’m more scared of public transport than walking alone in a dark alleyway. Public transportation is a safety hazard in a multitude of ways, it’s like an intense guessing game. Between the drugs, the weapons, and the people who use them, it’s just like walking into a lion’s den with no protection and hoping it’s asleep so you don’t get mauled by it. People are dying, kids are dying, they leave their homes, and partners and parents are scared their loved ones won’t come home safe and sound. I’m well aware people might think I’m exaggerating or being dramatic, but I’m truly not, in fact, I’m being very serious. This is no joking matter, this is no time for sarcasm.

Three months ago, two teenagers were stabbed on the MAX by a grown man, that’s right a 25-year-old man stabbed two teenagers and the only reason he did it was because of their race. In May of 2017, the color of their skin and their cultural background were reason enough for a man to kill two young adults, young adults who still had years of life ahead of them. Let’s also not forget about the number four bus getting shot at on Mother’s Day by someone using a pellet gun. You can say or think that it’s not that bad or not as dangerous as the real thing, but the people on that bus were terrified. How were they to know whether or not the bullets were real or pellet bullets? There were people that we went to school with on that bus and there were children on that bus; luckily there were no casualties and no one was injured. What would’ve happened if someone were injured, if someone was harmed? We don’t stop thinking about how dangerous our transportation has truly become. The generations before us were worried about walking alone after dark, our generation is worried about walking out in public. 

 Not long ago I was in a situation I never imagined I’d be in. I was taking the MAX to work when a man boarded, and it was obvious that he had been using a substance. You could tell by the way he swayed and the amount of sweat he was producing, not to mention the behavior he was showing. His behavior was very aggressive and he was yelling at random people and things. He walked around and continued his unnecessary yelling. I was uncomfortable being around a person who was behaving the way he was, so I moved to the other side of the train and faced the opposite direction. This is honestly a common occurrence with public transport, people who are under the influence are usually on the train or bus, they don’t often harm anyone and we usually ignore them and continue with our business. However, this time that was not the case, the man had gotten louder but thankfully we were coming up to a stop soon. When we arrived, he got quiet. I assumed since we had arrived at a stop the man left and my trip to work would continue as normal. However, that was far from the correct answer, not only was he still on the train with no security, but he had started verbally assaulting another person on the train, an innocent person minding their own business. He continued his yelling then suddenly he got physical, he hit the person and continued until someone pulled him off. He then moved toward two teen girls and a little girl with them. I was terrified, not only for myself but for those girls. The same person who was being assaulted earlier stood between the man and the three girls. I saw that as an opportunity to grab the girls and take them out of that situation, so I did, I ran up to the girls and told them to follow me to the far end of the train, and that was where we would stay until the next stop. The man continued to hit and scream at the same person while other people were trying to detain the man until we arrived at a stop with security. Once we reached the next stop, I did what I thought and still think was the best decision for myself and those girls, I told them to follow me to the next cart, and that’s what we did. There, we told the people in that cart about what happened, and someone called the police. We reached the next stop and there was security, police, and an ambulance waiting.  escorted the man under the influence off the MAX, and we could see the person who was being assaulted earlier, being helped off the MAX by the ambulance. I went to work that day in shock, but thankful that I was okay physically. 

TriMet claims they have done things to promise things like these situations are avoided, yet I don’t see an improvement. There will always be people like that in the world, but saying you’re doing something to help and doing what you say are two very different things with different outcomes. Yes, you’ve upped your MAX stop security but where’s the security on the MAX? Where is the security on the buses? See that’s the thing, we have security but we don’t have them stationed in the right spot. All the news I just shared in this article happened on the MAX and the bus, not at their stops. So that leaves us with the question we all have. Is it public transportation or is it a safety hazard?