After a slew of violence on Philadelphia’s public transit system, the city’s largest transport workers union is calling for the National Guard to step in like it did in New York City last week. 

“Have we had enough yet?” Transport Worker Union Local 234 writes in a letter sent to Governor Shapiro, along with top politicians and law enforcement including the city’s mayor, police commissioner, and district attorney. 

Violent and “traumatizing” incidents since October include a passenger shooting an operator to death “in broad daylight.” On March 4, students boarding a bus were “fired upon with a hail of bullets,” killing a 17-year-old and wounding more as “the bullets pierced the body of the bus.”  

The same day, a passenger was “brazenly beaten by a group of youth” and in another incident, one rider shot and killed another passenger. On March 5, another rider was killed by gunshots on a bus. Despite recent increased hiring, “even at full strength, the transit police cannot solve the crime problem, given its magnitude.” 

The letter notes that Republicans recently passed a bill calling for a special prosecutor to reduce transit crime but says nothing has changed yet, and adds that prosecuting occurs after a crime has already affected victims. 

“Prosecutions occur after the fact, and they rarely serve as a deterrent,” the letter notes, calling for “heightened law enforcement presence” on public transit. Noting New York’s recent deployment of the National Guard on the subway system, the union writes that “that’s the only way we can hope to deter crimes before they occur, rather than having to deal with the tragic aftermath.” 

“When is it going to stop?” the letter asks, adding that for years they have asked law enforcement to “stem the tide of crime” but that “nothing has changed.”