The RIDER Safety Act amends federal transit funding law to make transit support specialists eligible for federal crime prevention and security grants. Transit support specialists are defined as unarmed personnel who work on public transportation vehicles, stops, and stations to provide security through their visible presence, engagement with riders, and monitoring for disruptive behavior—without carrying weapons or making arrests. The bill allows public transit systems to use both capital grants and operational grants from federal transit programs (specifically under Section 5338 of the transit law) to hire and fund these specialists, who would handle tasks like assisting riders, reporting suspicious activity, de-escalating conflicts, and connecting people with crisis intervention services. This legislation, introduced in November 2025, is intended to enhance rider safety across U.S. transit systems by creating an additional layer of non-police security presence that can prevent problems and assist law enforcement by handling minor incidents. The bill does not specify new funding amounts or timelines, but rather redirects existing federal transit grant eligibility to include this category of personnel.
Take Action
Your position
Add a comment
to comment on this bill.
Annotate the text
Highlight any passage on the Summary or Full Text tab to attach a note. Annotations appear on the Annotations tab.