Seattle’s King County Metro bus operators are evaluating safety partition designs as part of the planning process for retrofitting up to 1,300 of the agency’s 1,400 buses.

Existing buses not being upgraded will be replaced by a recent order for 89 new buses with a partition already installed.

Starting July 5, four buses, each with a different partition style currently available on the market, will be touring the agency’s bases. The safety partitions, which riders will begin seeing on new and existing buses later this year, offer increased size and durability to protect King County bus operators better.

“King County is moving forward as quickly as possible to select and install operator safety partitions on every Metro bus, fulfilling our commitment to enhance transit safety for operators and riders,” said King County Executive Shannon Braddock. “We listened to our operators’ feedback, which led to improved, larger partition designs and the installation of safety partitions on the 89 new buses arriving next year.”

Operator Partition Rollout Aiming for 100% by 2026

More people are taking transit throughout the region, and the agency serves well over 300,000 daily passengers every weekday.

From 2023 to 2024, the agency's Care and Presence safety approach led to a 56% reduction in operator assaults. Operator assaults decreased by 20% from the first quarter of 2024 to the first quarter of 2025.

“While ridership and safety trends are very encouraging, our goal will always be zero incidents,” said Braddock. “King County continues to expand our comprehensive approach to transit safety — including 24/7 cleaning crews, behavioral health specialists, Metro Transit Police, Metro Transit Security Officers, safety partitions, and more — to ensure every trip is safe and welcoming.”

“Safety is absolutely paramount, and our bus operators often share with me how important these partitions are to them,” said King County Metro GM Michelle Allison. “Operator safety partitions have been a multi-year effort across our agency. I want to thank the many teams involved for getting us to this point and for accelerating the procurement and installation timelines. We’re now on track to begin installation later this year and to reach 100% of buses by 2026. That completion date is an improvement of roughly two years from an earlier estimate.”

Following operators’ feedback on the potential safety partition features, King County Metro will proceed with a procurement process to obtain the equipment for retrofitting its existing buses.